Beauty and the Techie 3: Ian's Revenge
by princessyuki08
Summary: Third story of Beauty and the Techie. Sequel to Beauty and the Techie 2: Book of Secrets. Ian's out of prison and is plotting revenge on Bianca and Ben. Sadusky's got a plan to take Bianca out of the picture and to set a trap for Ian, but what happens when the plan takes a turn for the worst? How will that affect Saduky's plan? Or was it part of the plan all along?
1. Chapter 1: Nothing's Impossible

**AN: Hello again every one. Here is the first chapter of the the third story. Wow, we're at number three. **

**This chapter is dedicated to MistressoftheDark12 and Guin Parris. **

**I've got a few ideas for this story. This one might be shorter than the other two, I don't know. I haven't got a movie to fall back on for this one, so it'll be interesting.**

**Happy Reading!**

_**'Nothing is impossible; there are ways that lead to everything, and if we had sufficient will we should always have sufficient means. It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible.' - Francois de La Rochefoucauld **_

**Chapter One: Nothing's Impossible**

"Why didn't you tell any one of us earlier, Bianca? I think it would have been nice to know earlier that our lives are in danger." Riley replied first, clearly upset. I hadn't gotten around to telling him the news yet. He was scared. All four of us were.

Ian had done it. He had the impossible, well if you ever think about impossible things the word itself says 'I'm Possible.', but anyway, the important thing was he had broken out of prison. He had been out for at least a month now. I've known about it for a couple of weeks now. I knew he had been planning an escape since before we found the City of Gold. It wasn't that I hadn't planned on telling them, honestly I was. I didn't have enough information to tell them until two weeks ago when I found out from Sadusky, Howe had actually escaped from prison.

"When would she of had the time to tell us?" Abby asked him incredulously, "You just brought Zach home. You guys just put Carissa in school. When you're not with the kids, you're working. We haven't been really focused on Ian because he was in prison and we didn't think that he was going to escape."

I gave her a grateful look, and she nodded. Ben sighed and stood up, "That still doesn't mean that she shouldn't have said anything till now. At least now we know so we can be prepared if anything happens. Abigail, I think it's time we go. I'll be back, later Riley."

"See you tonight, Bianca." Abby said on their way out.

"Why didn't you tell me he had actually escaped? Is that what you've been meeting Agent Sadusky more recently?" He asked this time more concerned though.

I hadn't been meeting with Sadusky because of Ian, it was a matter we're concerned with, but not the reason I had meeting with him. I had been meeting with him because of nightmares I had been having and another agent in my division referred me to Sadusky. When I found Ian was planning to get out they got worse. I kept awaking in cold sweats from seeing dead bodies and blood everywhere. It was the stress from the job, but with Ian breaking out, there's been a definite spike in the reoccurrence of them.

I shook my head, "In a way they're connected, I guess, but it's not the reason."

"Why are you being so evasive? Is there something going on be-"

I cut him off. I knew exactly what he was going to say, that I didn't want to hear it though, "Sadusky's old enough to probably be my father, and he's married. If you really must know, we do talk about Ian and his probable whereabouts, but for the past several months, I've been having nightmares that are from the job, unsolved cases, solved ones I've worked on, cases I've been a consultant for, anything connected to the job really. I keep seeing people dying, and dead people, and so much blood, every time I close my eyes. Ever since I heard about Ian, they've spiked. I don't sleep through the night anymore, I can't. Not that we're going to be sleeping for a while. We'll be spending a lot of those hours probably taking care of Carissa and Zach."

"Does Sadusky have a plan on what we should do?" He asked.

I nodded, and told him what I was supposed to, Sadusky had had everything planned out since he heard Ian broke out of prison. "Split up and go into hiding. Sadusky's more concerned with getting us out right now."

"So you, Carissa, Zach and I are going somewhere, Ben and Abigail are-" He said trying to make sense of it.

I shook my head, "You and Zach are going somewhere with John. I talked to John, and he's taking you out of the country, he'll tell you where when you get on the plane. Carissa and I are going somewhere with an agent. Ben and Abby are going somewhere with another agent. The same goes for my parents."

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked me, "We're supposed to be partners."

"I haven't had the time." I replied, not really wanting or being able to tell him the real answer.

_**Flashback**_

_**-Two Weeks Ago-**_

"_What do you mean he's out?" I asked shocked. Aaron and I were following Sadusky to his office. _

"_He broke out of prison this morning." Sadusky stated, "I have a plan and I'm going to need you both and Miss Howe to go along with it to work."_

"_What about Riley?" I asked._

"_For what I want to happen, I'm sorry Bianca, but he can't know what's going on." He replied. _

"_I'll get Alyssa, where do you want to meet?" Aaron asked._

"_Bourbon Coffee in half an hour." He replied. We both nodded and went to our offices. _

_I was the first one of the two of us to meet Sadusky at ten. He had already been seated and had his espresso. _

'_**Oh boy, this is bad. He's got an espresso, he only drinks those when he's stressed.' **__I thought as I went over to him. "That bad?" I asked him._

_He looked up, "That bad."_

"_Mexican hot chocolate and keep them coming." I told the waitress when she asked me for my order. If Sadusky thinks this is bad, then we're going to be in real deep water. The waitress asked me what I'd like to eat and I ordered a lemon poppy seed bread and a chicken Caesar wrap. _

_Aaron and Alyssa came a short while after and ordered cinnamon spice lattes and rugelachs. I didn't quite know what those were so I wasn't too inclined to order one._

"_Oh dear god, she has chocolate." Aaron signed as the waitress brought me my Mexican hot chocolate. The waitress looked at him odd and then said their drinks would be there shortly. "This is something tea can't fix, so this must be a bad job."_

"_What do you know of Reichenbach Falls?" Sadusky asked us, taking a sip of his espresso. _

"_Um, it's got something to do with Sherlock." Aaron replied. He wasn't much of a Sherlock Holmes fan, he was more of the Indiana Jones type. _

"_It was where Moriarty and Sherlock fell to their deaths supposedly. Moriarty died and Sherlock faked his death." Alyssa replied, not really understanding why he asked. I did though. I understood completely and that's why he asked because he knew I would._

"_Who's taking the fall, Sadusky?" I asked a little pissed at the plan. It was evident in my voice and in my tone. _

"_What do you mean who's taking the fall, Bianca?" Aaron asked, "One of us is gonna fake our death? What would be the point in that?"_

"_Not one of the three of us, it would be Bianca or me. Ian doesn't know you; he wouldn't care if you died." Alyssa replied. _

"_It wouldn't be you, Alyssa. He wants revenge on my family, it would be me." I told her. I was just waiting for Sadusky to say it. _

"_Bianca is right." Sadusky stated, "For the plan to work, she would have to take the fall."_

_**-End Flashback-**_


	2. Chapter 2: Kiss It All Better

**AN: Two chapters in one night, not bad. This chapter was inspired by the song Kiss It All Better by He is We. If you haven't heard it, it's a beautiful song. **

**Happy reading...**

**'It is a curious thing, the death of a loved one. We all know that our time in this world is limited, and that eventually all of us will end up under the sheet, never to wake up. And yet it is always a surprise when it happens to someone we know. It is like walking up the stairs to your bedroom in the dark, and thinking there is one more stair than there is. Your foot falls down, through the air, and there is a sickly of dark surprise as you try and readjust the way you thought of things." - Lemony Snicket**

**Chapter Two: Kiss It All Better**

Three days later, Carissa and I got in the car to go to the airport. John was taking Riley and Zach tomorrow. We weren't allowed to contact each other. They were headed to a little town down under. We were headed to a small village in the New Zealand. Well, Carissa would be. She would be going with Agent Sherman. I had known her for many years, she would take care of Carissa until Sadusky can inform Riley and until they can make arrangements for her to be with them.

"Where are we going, mommy?" Carissa asked confused.

"Oh a trip." I replied not wanting to worry her.

"Why isn't Daddy coming?" She asked.

"Because he has to go somewhere for a while." I replied, "You'll see him soon though."

Carissa looked at me and asked, "Why are you sad, mommy?" I had forgotten how quick she was when it came to emotions. Before I could think of an answer, she asked, "Is it because you miss Daddy?"

"Yeah." I replied. I was going to miss Riley, and Zach, and Carissa. I didn't like the plan, but it was the best plan to get rid of Ian. Thinking over the plan and knowing what I had to do was what made me sad.

**-Flashback-**

_Aaron and Alyssa gaped after Sadusky stated that I would have to take myself out of the equation for his plan to work. _

"_Bianca can't…"Aaron started to argue for me, "She has a family, she's…"_

"_He's after her." Sadusky stated, "More so than Ben. She needs to get herself out of the equation. We have a mole in the organization."_

"_Who?" Aaron asked him. _

"_Agent Vega." Sadusky replied, "I'm sending him and Agent Sherman with you Bianca."_

_Agent Nigel Vega was an agent who was being mentored by Agent Raina Sherman. He was a little off, but didn't seem that odd. _

_I sighed, "What is your plan?"_

"_Agent Vega is working with Ian and his task is to kidnap you." Sadusky stated. _

"_Why can't we just let him take me instead of killing me?"_

"_Because we want to take care of the mole." Sadusky stated. _

"_Endangering my life in the process?" I asked in reply. _

"_You knew the risks of this job when you took it." Sadusky stated._

"_So, what do I have to do?" I asked him. _

"_Take care of the mole and then meet Aaron so he can take you into hiding." Sadusky stated. We talked for a bit more and then Alyssa and Aaron left. _

"_What's really happening?" I asked Sadusky, knowing what he had pitched Aaron and Alyssa was not really what was going to happen. _

**-End Flashback-**

When we got to the airport, we met up with Agents Vega and Sherman.

"She ready to go?" Sherman asked gently.

"Just let me have a moment with her." I told her. She nodded and dragged Vega away.

I kneeled to down to meet her height, "Carissa, I have something to tell you."

"What?"

"I'm not going with you, sweetheart." I replied.

"Where you going?"

"To work for a while." I replied, telling her half of the truth.

"Will you be back soon?" She asked.

I nodded, trying not to cry, "As soon as I can, love." I kissed her head and hugged her tight knowing that it would be the last time I would see her for a while. "Can you do something for me?" I asked her. She nodded. I smiled at her. "Could you hold on to this for me?" I asked her taking off my locket. She nodded. I put it around her neck, "I've had this since I was about your age. It was sort of my good luck charm growing up."

"I'll take care of it, mommy."

"That's my girl." I hugged her again, "Behave for Agent Sherman, okay?"

She nodded and Sherman took her away.

I looked at the mole. "Looks like it's just you and me, Vega."

"Wouldn't have it any other way, Poole." He replied with a smile as we started to walk out of the airport.

"Vega, I know why you're here." I told him, if I was going to do this I was going to get it over with now. I didn't like pain. The quicker it was over with the better. "_**I know you're the mole.**_" I hissed at him. His eyes grew very dark. He grabbed my arm tightly and dragged me to a fire escape of the closest building.

"Climb." He ordered darkly, pulling out his gun and pointing it at me.

"You see, that doesn't scare me." I replied, pulling out my own. "I have one of my own. Think of some new material, dipstick."

He glared, "If you don't move, I shoot you."

"Go ahead." I replied, not the smartest words I've ever used in my life, but I couldn't take them back now. I undid the safety on my gun before he could notice.

He did exactly what he was told. Before everything went black, I did as I was told too. Vega was taken care of and soon I would be too.

**Aaron's POV:**

I had been looking for Bianca for the past twenty minutes. She wasn't were she said she would be. I called the last person I wanted to call.

"Hello?" Riley answered the phone.

"Great, I caught you before you had to leave." I exclaimed actually happy to hear his voice.

'What do you want?" He asked.

"I'm having trouble finding someone, how do you track a cell phone?" I asked him.

"Why would you wanna know that?" He asked.

"Cause someone I care about might be in danger, now please tell me." I replied, not wanting to say that I was actually starting to get worried that Bianca might be dead. That is not news I would want to give to anyone. I know how it felt for someone you loved that much to die from this line of work. It tears you apart.

Riley sighed and told me how to track her down. I thanked him and hung up. I did it exactly how he told me to and found Bianca five minutes later. She was on the ground bleeding to death.

"No…" I murmured, rushing over to her. I checked her pulse, it was still there for now, but if I didn't get her help now, it wouldn't there for much longer. I called an ambulance and rushed her to the hospital.

When they took her back to the emergency room, I called Riley. He needed to know. I would have called Ben, but he and her dad had already left. Riley was the only one who hadn't left and this was going to kill him.

"What do you want, Aaron?" He asked tiredly. I didn't blame him, if I had to take care of a baby Zach's age by myself, I'd be tired too.

"I don't want to be the one to tell you this." I started, "The person I was trying to track down when I called you the first time was Bianca. She was supposed to meet me at a certain location and she never showed. I tracked her down through her blackberry, and…." I took a deep breath. I was about to lose it, quite honestly, Bianca and Sophie were the last living connections I had to Lani. Bianca dying almost felt like losing Lani all over again. "Bianca's been shot. The doctors don't know if there's anything they can do for her….She's dying."

He didn't reply for a while, "…I'll be there as soon as I can." He hung up.

A nurse came out fifteen minutes later asking for the people who were with Bianca. I raised my hand.

"Are you the husband?" The nurse asked, coming over to me.

I shook my head, "Colleague. We work together. I called her husband, he should be he shortly."

"She's up and asking for him." The nurse replied, "She doesn't have much time left. There wasn't much we could do for her. She's lost too much blood."

Riley ran in a few moments later.

"Are you the husband?" The nurse asked him. He nodded, out of breath. She nodded, and told him, "She's been asking for you. She doesn't have much time left. I'll take you to her."

The nurse took him back.

**Riley's POV:**

"I'll leave you alone." She said leaving, shutting the door.

"Oh my-" I started, "Bianca…" I didn't know what to say. She looked like she was in so much pain. She was so pale. She put her hand on mine.

"Kiss all better; I'm not ready to go…. It's not your fault, love; you didn't know….You didn't know…" She said lightly.

I kissed her head, not wanting it to be true. "Everything will be alright…"

"Kiss it all better, Ri… I'm not ready to go…"

"If I had known I-"

She cut me off, "It's not your fault, love; you didn't know…You didn't know…" Her eyes started to close.

"Bianca, please…" I said, "Don't leave me…"

My words were in vain though. She was gone.


	3. Chapter 3: Little Talks

**AN: Hey everyone, here is chapter three. I'm working on chapter four now. Riley's speech at the end is a reference to BBC Sherlock. So, I don't own it really, but it fit so I referenced it. I hope you enjoy it the chapter is dedicated to Guin Parris and MistressoftheDark12. **

**Happy reading everyone and to those who celebrate it, happy Good Friday. **

**Chapter Three: Little Talks**

**Ian's POV:**

I had been stationed at my new home in the Caribbean waiting to hear something from Nigel. It had been two days since he had said he was going after Bianca and we still had nothing yet. Until she was here, we were at a standstill. Not that many of my employees were doing much right now anyway. McGregor and Victor had been doing much of the dirty work up till this point. Phil and Shippen had mostly been keeping my wife, Ellie, entertained while I'm working. They were the only two of my original team, who she really did talk to. They were watching the television at the moment. Flipping through the channels really.

"…_Bianca Poole was pronounced dead along with Nigel Vega. Police are suspecting double murder or possibly a murder suicide. The FBI isn't giving many details at this point…"_

"That bloody idiot…" I cursed, "I told him to bring her alive not kill her get himself killed. I needed her for this plan to bloody work." I went over to where they were watching the screen. They showed a picture of Bianca with Riley and a little girl with blonde curls and blue eyes.

"Who's the girl?" I asked them.

"Carissa Marie Poole. Age 5. Only daughter and eldest child of Riley and Bianca Poole. Just started kindergarten." Shippen read the file I had gotten from another employee. "Cute kid." He commented. I took the file from him.

I smirked looking at her picture; she was our ticket to making everything work. With her, if we played our cards right, not only could we get amnesty, we would have Ben, Riley, and the rest of them in the palm of our hands. Dangle the kid in front of them, and they'll find the treasure for us. "Shippen, Phil, find McGregor. I have a job for him."

They looked at each other and then looked at me and nodded. They got up and went to find McGregor, who was probably someone on the island with one of the female employees.

"What are you planning to do with her?" Ellie asked confused, looking at the picture.

"Use her as leverage." I replied simply.

"She's a five year old little girl." She argued.

"I'm not going to kill her, just hold on to her for a while. After they give me the treasure and I get amnesty, Riley can have his daughter back." I explained, not really caring what happens to the kid.

"Nothing will happen to her?"

I rolled my eyes, "Bloody hell, Ellie…" I sighed, "You're in charge of her when she gets here, so there, you don't have to worry about something happening to her."

"If she even gets here." Ellie retorted.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked slightly annoyed.

"You're sending McGregor to get her. From the stories I've heard about Bianca, if her daughter's anything like her, McGregor'll kill her." Ellie stated.

"I'll send Phil and Shippen with him." I stated, "Nothing'll happen to the kid."

Phil and Shippen returned with a very pissed McGregor.

"You three are going to go find the girl." I ordered the three of them. I gave them the file and picture of the girl, "I want you back by the end of the week."

McGregor nodded. Phil and Shippen looked at each other and then hesitantly nodded, agreeing that they would do it.

**Riley's POV:**

It had been a week since Bianca had died. I stood by her grave. John was watching Zach, so I could go by myself to see her. The funeral had been yesterday. It wasn't a big to do. None of us wanted to accept that she was actually gone. Aaron, Alyssa, John, Zach, and I were the only ones who attended. Sadusky and a team of agents were trying to find the rest of the family.

**Sadusky's POV:**

"Don't move, Bianca." I told her. She looked like she wanted to run to him as we watched him stare to the gravestone. "You knew the outcomes of this situation before we both got into it."

"Sadusky, please. Just Riley." She tried to persuade me.

"No, you knew the consequences." I replied, "You're lucky you got to see him. Now let's go."

We started to leave.

"He's about to say something." She said, "Can I just hear what he's going to say before we leave?"

"Fine, but you're not going to talk to him." I told her. She nodded.

**Riley's POV:**

"You once said that you were not a hero…" I stated reminding her of what she had said before we went to the presidents birthday, before we got married, "Um…I hate to tell you this sweetheart, but there were times when I didn't even know if you were human. Let me tell you this though: You were the best, most amazing woman and human…human being I've ever known…" I told her. "So yeah…Uh, there…" I gently put my hand on the stone, "I was alone and I owe you so much…Thank you for everything…I love you always have, always will…" I walked away and then walked back. There was just this feeling I couldn't shake. I saw her die, but I just couldn't shake the feeling that she was still here and alive. "Look, please, there's just one more thing, one more thing, one more miracle, Bianca, please for me… Don't. Be. Dead. Would you do that, just for me, just… stop it. Stop this!"

I put the flowers down by her tombstone. I had a lavender rose for love at first sight, a red rose for love, desire, and longing, a purple iris because of her love for the color and wedding bouquet, and a peony for a happy marriage and happy life, one that I deeply missed with her gone and while the agents were still looking for Carissa.

I left.


	4. Chapter 4: Leverage

**AN: Hey everyone, I just finished this chapter so I thought I might as well post it. Has anyone ever seen that show Leverage, or at least that's what I think it's called...It's where the government has former bad guys solve cases, or at least that's what I'm getting from the trailers. I haven't seen it yet, but I've seen commercials for it and it inspired this idea. **

**Dedicated to Guin Parris for the lovely review. **

**Happy Reading.**

**Chapter Four: Leverage**

**Phil's POV:**

McGregor used his newest girl to hack the coordinates of where the FBI was hiding the girl. I didn't understand how he got all of these women; it wasn't like he was really good looking. Part of me wondered if he had some hidden stash of cash somewhere that was worth millions because that was the only way I could see a woman being interested in him.

We were currently on a plane to New Zealand to get the poor girl. McGregor was up at the front talking to the pilot. I sat in the back with Shippen, deep in thought about the past several years.

"I don't like this, Shippen." I told him quietly, "I don't like this at all."

"We're following _**his**_ orders. Do whatever Ian tells us, until we can initiate phase two when _**she**_ comes." Shippen replied.

The government gave us amnesty years ago when we gave them information about Ian planning to break out and his past workings. We also gave them every detail we could on Victor and McGregor. Neither of us had ever liked them.

"_**She **_isn't going to come. _**Vega shot her.**_" I replied.

"She's Bianca Bloody Gates!"

"Poole…" I corrected. "She married Riley, Ben's computer genius friend."

"Blimey, it doesn't matter! She's Bianca! She's not going to die from a bullet wound." Shippen retorted, trying to keep his voice down so McGregor wouldn't hear us.

"But she did." I stated.

"No, she didn't. If she were dead, Sadusky would have called the whole thing off. He would have tracked us down, and arrested Ian and the rest of the group." Shippen explained, "He never contacted us or tracked us down, so we continue as planned."

"Kidnapping a little girl, her little girl, was not part of the plan." I argued.

"I doubt even Sadusky knows about this plan yet." He replied.

I sighed, "This is wrong."

"We can't stop it now." Shippen replied.

We landed in New Zealand that night.

"What's the plan?" I asked McGregor as we got off the plane.

"Off the agent, get the girl, and get back on the plane." McGregor stated nonchalantly.

"Simple, but offing the agent really necessary?" I asked, thinking I could reason with the brainless ogre of a man.

"Yes, kill the agent makes it easier to take the girl." He replied.

"Couldn't we just knock her out?" I suggested, "I don't see a reason to kill her."

"I just said-"

"You know what McGreggor, I'll take care of the agent. Shippen'll take care of the girl." I told him, "You drive."

He nodded, gave us the coordinates, and we went after the girl. We took a bus to get to the closest place to where they were.

**Shippen's POV:**

I called Sadusky, using the disposable cell phone we were given by the FBI, when we got off the bus.

"Sadusky here." He answered.

"Sadusky, its Agent Shippen Powell." I told him, "Agent Phillip Russo and I have run into a problem."

"What's the problem?" He asked calmly.

"Ian wants the Carissa Poole." I stated, "We're in New Zealand to get her. We sent McGregor to get a car while we supposedly get them. What do you want us to do?"

"Just a second, let me put you on the phone with our senior agent for the case and she'll instruct you on what to do." Sadusky replied.

"Hello Shippen." The senior agent greeted, "Now don't say anything, here is what you're going to do: Sadusky's already on the phone to Agent Sherman, who is taking care of Carissa. We figured he would do something of this magnitude, which is one of the reasons you both are stationed where you are with Ian. Carissa is going to go with you. She and Agent Sherman will meet you. You and Agent Russo will look after her until we can schedule a meeting. You will also continue to inform us of what Ian is planning, okay?"

"You've got it." I smiled.

"Awesome. Take care of her."

"We'll make sure she's safe." I assured. The senior agent hung up. I looked at Phil, "We continue on. They already had thought of this. Sherman's expecting us."

"What would Bianca say?" Phil asked shocked, "I don't think she'd want her only daughter around Ian."

"I think she'd be okay if she had people she trusted with her." I told him, "And you forget, she's Bianca's daughter, if she's anything like her-"

"Ian'll kill her." Phil exclaimed.

"We'll be there to protect her." I told him.

He sighed and we moved on. We found the little cottage they were staying in and knocked on the door. McGregor wasn't there yet, so we could be civil.

Sherman answered the door, "I've been expecting you two." She let us in.

"Your accent, German?" I guessed.

She smiled, "Yes, Scottish?"

I smiled, "Yes mam."

She called Carissa down.

Carissa came down with her teddy bear in her arms and a scared expression on her face. She was already ready to go. I bent down to meet her level, while Phil talked to Sherman and they both went to get her stuff. "You have no reason to be scared of the two of us. We're not going to hurt you, Carissa."

"You know my name." She said.

"I know your mom." I told her, "You look just like her, 'cept your eyes, those are your dad's."

She brightened.

"Phil and I are going to take care of you, but you have to trust us. Do you think you could do that until we get you back to your family?" I couldn't say mom because she was supposed to be dead.

"But you're taking me to the bad guy…" She replied, "Doesn't that mean you work for him?"

"Have you ever heard stories about guys who go undercover to help save people?"

She nodded.

"We're like those guys." I replied, "Nothing's gonna happen to you, not while we're around." I scooped her up. Phil came down with her bags, while Sherman stayed upstairs. We took her outside, where McGregor was already there with the car, and drove back to the airport to meet the pilot.

**AN2: So Phil and Shippen are good guys. Yeah, I've never thought for some reason from the first film that they were actually bad guys, I've always thought they just had kind of poor judgement. So, yeah, not technically a kidnapping because it was planned by Sadusky and Bianca because they thought Ian would possibly stoop that low once he found out about her. So they planned for that. I will say that this chapter is the last chapter your going to hear from Bianca for a while. I'm gonna focus more on Ian and Riley for the next several chapters. She will probably be mentioned in passing, but you won't actually see her or hear from her. **

**Oh, I've got a question for you guys. I might as well open this to everyone reading this because I'm a little stuck. Until I know what I'm doing for the treasure, there will be no chapter five. I honestly have no clue what to do about the treasure, all I know is it has to do with pirates. I honestly make up these chapters as I go, I have a idea for a plot and make up the outline as I go, not the most organized person, but it works usually.**

**I can tell you it's going to be a vast amount of pirate treasure, but I need to tie it to history because well it's a National Treasure series and these treasure's have historical connections. **

**Leave a comment or private message if you guys have ideas. Until I've got a treasure, I can't give you chapter five. So really please tell me what your thinking.**


	5. Chapter 5: Stories of Blackbeard

**AN: Hello everyone, to those who celebrate it I hope you have a Happy Easter. Thank you Guin Parris, for the help with the treasure. After a lot of research on Blackbeard, and many hours of listening to music from Pirates of the Caribbean, I've got this chapter to give to you all. Everything about Blackbeard in this chapter (except for the treasure trove) is actually real, well the chest and the ghost story is a rumor, but hey there are ties to real life, so that's always good. As in good National Treasure fashion, there will be ties to the Gates family as well, and the Howe family. Black sheep of the Gates family and the hero of the Howe family for many of it's members, but that you'll see later as we go. It won't be in this chapter, but it might pop up in the next. **

**The chapter is dedicated to Guin Parris. **

**Happy reading everyone and again, to those who celebrate it, Happy Easter.**

**Chapter Five: Stories of Blackbeard**

**Shippen's POV:**

"What was the treasure he was talking about?" Carissa asked me after McGregor left to talk to the pilot. Phil was asleep, so it was just me and her. I couldn't sleep on planes and I'm guessing she was a little too scared of McGregor to go to sleep.

"Have your parents ever told you about Blackbeard?" I asked her. She shook her head. I nodded in understanding of Bianca and Riley. If I had a kid this age, I probably wouldn't have told them about Blackbeard either. "Here's what I'll do…Do you like ghost stories, lass?"

"I don't know. I've never heard one."

"Fair enough." I replied, "Well this is what got Ian interested in this treasure, you see, when people leave their spirits behind, it means they have unfinished business."

"Unfinished business?"

"They left the world before their time." I replied, not completely knowing how to explain it, "Anyway, there is a legend that says he still haunts North Carolina." I told her as I pulled her on to my lap. We were in the air and her seatbelt was unbuckled, what was the harm? I decided to explain the legends in a way that I could give her a lesson about the pirate and she could hear about the treasure as well. "Now there are two legends about the treasure but only one about Blackbeard's ghost. Blackbeard was once a man named Edward Teach. He was born in Bristol, England in 1680. He was the most feared and despised pirate that ever lived. He got the name Blackbeard for his beard. It covered his entire face. To strike fear in the hearts of his enemies, legends say he would light his beard on fire. He was already intimidating on his own to tell you the truth. He was a very large man, carrying two swords, numerous knives, and pistols. He was not a pirate you would ever want to encounter. At the sight of him, many of his victims would completely surrender before the fight had begun. If they did, he would usually just take their valuables, rum, and weapons, allowing them to sail away. Although if they decided to fight, he would kill the crew or maroon them on some deserted island."

"What'd maroon mean?" She asked.

"Well, from what I hear, when a pirate's marooned, he's given a pistol with a single shot. One shot. Well, that won't do much good hunting, nor to be rescued. But after three weeks of a starvin' belly and thirst, that pistol starts to look real friendly." I explained, forgetting for a moment that she was five. Her eyes widened. "Not that I think any of the pirates would have used the pistols for that, I'm sure they were rescued before then." I assured dishonestly, not to freak her out too much. "Now, Blackbeard started his pirating days around 1713 as an ordinary crew member under the command of a pirate by the name of Benjamin Hornigold. In 1716, Hornigold supplied him with a small crew and vessel to command. In November 1717, Hornigold and Teach captured a 26 gun French vessel, 'Concorde'. Hornigold decided to take advantage of an offer of amnesty from the British Crown and retire and Blackbeard converted the Concorde into his flagship. Teach increased her weapon mass to 40 guns, and re-named her the Queen Anne's Revenge. As Teach's power and reputation as the most frightening of pirates grew, so did his beard and hair. Now calling himself Blackbeard, he braided his beard and tied the braids with black ribbons. He stuffed burning rope under his hat to make himself look more ferocious and menacing. He scared everyone. Some merchant ships carried passengers—often targets of pirates. He once took over a large cargo ship carrying many wealthy passengers as it sailed out of South Carolina. Hostages were locked in the dark hold of the ship. Blackbeard threatened to kill them if the townspeople didn't come up with the ransom: a medical chest filled with remedies. The deadline for delivery passed. The pirates prepared them for hanging. With only minutes to spare, the town came up with the ransom and delivered the medicine chest. Before releasing the hostages, the pirates stole all their jewelry and clothing. He made a home for himself in North Carolina. From there he preyed easily on ships traveling the American coast. Local townspeople tolerated his presence because they liked to buy the goods he stole, such as cloth and sugar. On November 21, 1718, Maynard engaged Blackbeard in a terrible battle. One of Maynard's ships were between Blackbeard and freedom. Blackbeard sailed his ship - the Adventure - in towards shore. It looked like the pirate was going to crash his ship, but at the last second the ship eased through a narrow channel. One of the pursuing Navy ships went aground on a sand bar when they tried to pursue the Adventure. Blackbeard fired his cannons at the remaining ship and many of Maynard's men were killed. The rest he ordered below the deck under cover of the gun smoke, hoping to fool the pirates into thinking they had won. When the pirates boarded the ship, Maynard and his men attacked the pirates. Outnumbered, the pirates put up a bloody fight. Blackbeard and Maynard came face to face. They both shot at each other. Blackbeard's shot missed Maynard, but Maynard's bullet hit the pirate. Blackbeard swung his cutlass and managed to snap off Maynard's sword blade near the hilt. As Blackbeard prepared to deliver the death-blow, one of Maynard's men cut Blackbeard's throat from behind. Blackbeard's blow missed its mark, barely skinning Maynard's knuckles. Infuriated, Blackbeard fought on as the blood spouted from his neck. Maynard and his men rushed the pirate. It took a total of five gunshots and about twenty cuts before Blackbeard fell down dead. Maynard seemed to think that the only way to ensure that Blackbeard was dead was to remove his head. They hung the head from the bowsprit and threw the pirate's body overboard. As the body hit the water, the head hanging from the bowsprit shouted: "Come on Edward" and the headless body swam three times around the ship before sinking to the bottom. From that day to this, Blackbeard's ghost has haunted Teach's Hole, forever searching for his missing head. Sometimes, the headless ghost floats on the surface of the water, or swims around and around and around Teach's Hole, glowing just underneath the water. Sometimes, folks see a strange light coming from the shore on the Pamlico Sound side of Ocracoke Island and know that it is "Teach's light". On night's that the ghost light appears, if the wind is blowing inland, you can still hear Blackbeard's ghost tramping up and down and roaring: 'Where's my head?'" I finished the story of Blackbeard and his ghost.

"What about the treasure?" Carissa asked.

"Aye, the treasure, now rumor has it, Blackbeard buried a treasure chest in the marsh in North Carolina. We have evidence that suggests that this chest could be just a clue to an even bigger treasure trove, but anyway the treasure we're looking for at this point in time, lass, is a chest. Now one knows what's in it, but Blackbeard want to keep it secret so desperately that he killed and buried a man with the treasure to guard it and walled up the excavation with bricks to the top of the ground. Five men, two of whom are still living, have found the spot where the treasure is buried, but none of them has been able to unearth it. People say that once the spot is found, something happens to frighten the finder away, and he is never able to locate the place again. One man who found the spot cut the grass away with his knife and cut a path to a road nearby, but the next morning when the man went back to dig, he could find no trace of what he had done the previous day. Another man placed his shirt on a stake over the spot and went to the house for a spade. When he returned, he could find no trace of his shirt or stake. Tradition says that the treasure moves each time it is discovered. Several people have dug for the treasure but have been frightened away each time. On cold, windy nights, the voice of the man who guards the treasure can be heard; snatches of old sea songs and shouted oaths ride the winds up the bay."

"What's in the trove?" She asked.

"No one knows. That secret died with Blackbeard and his crew as far as we know." I replied, "You should get some sleep."

She shook her head.

"Hey, big bad McGregor isn't gonna hurt ya, lass." I told her, "Ya've got me to protect ya. As long as ya got me, no one's gonna harm ya." I assured, and then thought of something that my parents used to do to get me to sleep when I was small, "If I sang to ya, lass, then will you try to sleep?"

She nodded. I didn't know really know any lullabies. I've never had any children. I decided to sing her a song that reminded me of home.

"When I dream, I'll be dreaming of Noreen

And the love that I'm leaving behind me.

And the twilight will always remind me

Of my Noreen, Mo Stoirin, my love.

Every night, I'll be thinking of Noreen

And the way I would cuddle and kiss her.

Every bone in my body will miss her.

My Noreen, Mo Stoirin, my love.

I curse the day that I left her

And the people who drove me away.

It's worse than I ever imagined,

Oh God, it gets harder each day.

I curse the day that I left her

And the people who drove me away.

It's worse than I ever imagined,

Oh God, it gets harder each day.

So I pray when my exile is over,

With the pain and the heartache behind us,

Back in the peace of the valley you'll find us-

My Noreen, Mo Stoirin, and me.

Back in the peace of the valley, that's where we will be-

My Noreen, Mo Stoirin, and me."

The poor girl was out by the time I finished the song. I placed her back in her seat carefully, making sure not to wake her. I buckled her back in, so we wouldn't have to worry about it later, place the teddy bear in her arms, and covered her with a spare blanket we had in kept in the back of the plane. She decided to use me as pillow, not that I minded, she was a sweet kid. Out of respect for her mother, I was going to look after her until I could return her to where she belonged.

We landed where Ian was hiding early the next morning, Carissa was still asleep. McGregor moved to wake her up, Phil stopped him. I unbuckled her, and picked her up, taking the blanket and bear with me. Phil got her bags and we headed off the plane.

"You two are coddling her too much." McGregor told us, obviously annoyed with how we were handling the poor girl.

"She's five, man." Phil argued, "Leave her be and just let us care for her. She's not your problem. It's not harming you; we're taking care of the girl so it's none of your concern."

"You treat her like she some priceless-"

I turned and cut him off before he could finish, "She's an innocent child, McGregor. A little girl who doesn't deserve what we're doing. Her mom just died, we've just taken her from the last person her mother talked to just to use her for random and revenge against her father and the rest of her family and the people who care for her. Excuse us for treating the poor girl like she should be for her age."

"She's our hostage, not our guest." McGregor argued. Carissa stirred.

"I'd like to think of her as our guest for the time being."

We all jumped at the voice and turned to see Ellie.

"She seems to like you, Shippen." She observed.

I nodded, "She does, so it seems. If you don't mind too deeply, mam, Phil and I'd like to look after her. Thought'd might be best to keep her with people she trusts…It's very hard to gain her trust, her parents got her trained very well mam."

That was a lie. I didn't want to say that she reminded me of her mother. I was not sure how much she knew of the extent of the feelings Ian had for Bianca, or the relationship they had before he married her, Ellie, I mean. I didn't want to offend her in anyway; I'd rather not have my head on a pike.

"That's fine, Shippen." She replied, "I would like to get to know her though, if that's alright with you."

"Of course mam." I replied, what else was I supposed to say to that? She was Ian's wife. I can't say no.

"Great, there's a room prepared for her." She said, "I'll show you where it is."

I followed her to the room.

**Ian's POV:**

"She's here." Ellie said coming in to the library.

"Who?" I asked not really paying attention.

"Carissa Poole." She stated, "And she seems really attached to Shippen, and Shippen to her. If I didn't know who she was, I would have thought she was his by the way he was acting."

I nodded, kind of understanding where Shippen was coming from about the girl. "Most likely out of respect for her mother, Shippen, Phil, and her were friends before everything happened. Shippen had a lot of respect for her. Phil's feelings were a little different than respect, somewhat stronger, I guess you could say. I should have thought of that, would you mind if they looked after her? You don't want the girl to be hurt, and they're the last people who would ever think of hurting her."

"Shippen already asked if they could look after her, and I told him that I didn't mind." She replied, "I don't see it as a problem if I got to know the girl though, neither did he."

"Glad you could reach an agreement." I replied getting up from my desk to get my phone.

"Where you going?" She asked.

"To call Ben, we've got the kid. Now, we start using her to our advantage." I replied, getting the phone calling Ben.

**AN2: Okay, so should the call be from the Good guy POV or the Bad guy POV? **

**Oh and the song Shippen sings is called Noreen which is sung by Celtic Thunder. **


	6. Chapter 6: A Call and a Black Sheep

**AN: Hello everyone. Happy Easter to those who celebrate it. Here's the next chapter. **

**This chapter is dedicated to MistressoftheDark12. **

**I hope you guys enjoy it. **

**Happy reading and Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates it!**

**Chapter Six: A Call and a Black Sheep**

**Ben's POV:**

"She has a will." I said after we all got back from the attorney's office. Everyone was at Dad's. "It was almost as if she were expecting this to happen."

"I think it was smart." Abigail commented, "You never know what's going to happen when-" She stopped as Riley came in and looked down. Abigail and I were starting to come to grips with it, Riley hadn't yet. We were upset that she was gone, but we were accepting the fact that she was dead. Riley, even though he saw her die, still was in denial that she was actually dead. "Hey Riley, how are you?"

"I've had better days." I replied.

"Any news on when Carissa is coming back?" Mom asked him. She and Dad were taking it surprisingly well. Although, they had been told before Abigail and I were, so that might be taken into account.

"No, they haven't said anything yet." He replied.

My phone rang and I excused myself from the room.

"Hello?" I answered, not recognizing the number. It could have been a telemarketer, or a wrong number, or whatever. Who knows these days…

"_Hello Ben, how have you been?" _

"I've had better days." I replied, using Riley's reply as I came out of the room. I gestured to the others to be quiet as I put it on speaker. I might as well, since they're all here, so I won't have to explain it later.

"_I'm sorry to hear that, Ben."_ Ian replied, "_I recently just heard about your loss. So sad when someone so young dies…She would have been very helpful with what I'm about to ask. She had such a love of pirates."_

"Why would we help you, Ian?" I asked annoyed. Everyone else had an expression of anger, confusion, and, in Alyssa's case, fear.

"_Because if you want to see your dear little niece again, you will do exactly as I tell you."_ Ian replied, and then added sadistically, "_Or we could keep her, that's no problem to me. A few of my employees are starting to like her. I swear she must really remind Riley of her mother. She looks just like her, I swear. Except she's blonde, I wonder where she got that from. Pretty little girl, I'm sure she-"_

"She's five, Ian!" I exclaimed, before Riley had a chance to say something. He looked pissed. I've never seen him actually angry, but this did it. Not that I'm surprised, we were all angry, "She's just a child, why would you take her? What use would she be to you?"

"_At first, none, my original target was Bianca. The man who was supposed to bring her, screwed up, and it seems, they both paid for it with their lives._" Ian replied, "_Although, I'm really starting to like this plan much better. She has such a hold over you, one I don't think Bianca could have. Now the question, I would like you to answer, Ben is: How far are you willing to go to get her back? I'm sure I can tell you Riley's answer, but how far are the rest of you willing to go to get her back?_"

"Anything..." I sighed.

"_Oh good…Now tell me Ben, what do you know about pirates?"_

An hour later, we were looking through the library for information on Edward Teach.

"What kind of man kidnaps a little girl for treasure?" Aaron asked looking through one of the books.

"A man who wants revenge." Alyssa replied, looking though another.

"Blackbeard's treasure was a myth an old ghost tale." Abigail stated.

"So were the others." I replied.

**Riley's POV:**

"Ri," Emily said putting her hand on my shoulder. I looked up from the book, I was studying. "Come with me." I followed her as she left the room.

"Where are we going?"

"To the attic, there's something I'd like to show you. I don't think Ben or Patrick will want to look at these at first." She said opening the door to the attic.

"Why wouldn't they want to-"

"Because the Gates family isn't too proud of this particular family member." She answered as we headed up, "She's considered as the black sheep of the Gates family."

"Why?"

"Because she was a pirate." She replied.

I looked at her shocked as we headed inside, "She was a pirate?"

She nodded, "Not originally at first, but yes. I thought you might be more open to looking at her journals than they would"

"Of course." I replied. She gave me the journals. I looked inside the one at the top, '_Property of Eva Marianne Gates'_. "Eva…" I sighed.

Emily smiled softly, "Yes, I got Bianca's middle name from her name. I've always liked her. You might too…The rest of the journals are in that corner over there. Those are the first three. They're marked with tallies on the back of the cover."

She left me there and I started to read.

**AN2: Now do you want to see journal entries, do you want like flashback type things, or do you want like a mixture of both? Comment or review and tell me what you think!**


	7. Chapter 7: Not to be Trusted

**AN: Hey everyone. This chapter is dedicated to Guin Parris. **

**The bold and italicized is the journal entry and the regular font is Riley's point of view. **

**Happy reading!**

**Chapter Seven: Not to be Trusted**

**_Property of Eva Marianne Gates_**

**_To whom it may concern, when you read this, since this is a journal, you are reading my personal thoughts. If you are alright with reading someone's personal thoughts and feeling continue on, do not let me stop you. I am not a very exciting person, but who knows maybe your life is dull enough to the excruciating point where you find mine exciting._**

I laughed at the message. I don't know why I found it funny but I did. I shook my head and continued on to the next page.

**_Journal Entry One_**

**_May 13, 1713_**

**_My name is Eva Marianne Gates. I am twenty years old and apparently, according to my mother and father, well on my way to a life alone. My sister is sixteen and already married. According to them, my being unmarried and turning away suitors is shameful to them. In this town it is hard to find someone that I am interest in. I want someone who sees me for the person I am instead of the money I am to inherit. I am not an inanimate object, I would prefer not to be treated as such. _**

**_NO that's not how it is. _**

**_I Am Told:_**

**_When, Where, How, and Why to go_**

**_When, Where, How, What, and Why to say_**

**_When, Where, How, What, Who, and Why to do_**

**_Yes I did say who to do. You do not think we choose our husbands, do you? NO, it is all arranged. Everything I am ever going to do in this lifetime is arranged by someone else. My mother and father dictate my life now, soon when they marry me off, my husband will dictate my actions. _**

**_I Have No Freedom. None. And I do not know why, but every other woman I have had to encounter seems to be fine with this issue. To be trapped forever in a life of unhappiness with someone who will never truly love you, but has the power to control every move you make for the rest of your given life. That is not right. Why should women be the lesser of the two? _**

**_Although, most would not listen to me, if any at all, when I say these things, people believe I am either trying to be humorous or completely mad. I am neither. However if it were not for my 'rambling', as mother calls it, I would not have this journal. It was a gift from Mother to kill two birds with one stone: I express my views and no one has to hear them. I still cannot believe she said that when she gave me the bloody journal. Who says that to their daughter? I swear when I have children, I will treat them differently. They will have the ability to make their own choices, at least for a while. _**

**_My 'for a while' has ended however. My father has made a promise of my hand to Commodore Jasper Howe of the British Royal Navy…_**

I looked at the sketch on the other side of the entry, "Oh shit." Book in hand, I ran down to where the others were convened. "I think I may have a lead on the treasure and why Ian might want it." I read to them the first page of the journal entry and showed them the sketch, "Jasper might have known something about the treasure."

"Eva Gates was a pirate." Patrick said, "Anything of _**hers**_ is not to be trusted."

"She could be the only link we have to finding the treasure." I argued.

"Eva knew Blackbeard. Her husband said under him for many years. Her brother in law was killed to guard whatever was in that chest." Emily agreed with me, "Her journals could be a lot of help to us."

"Mom, you and Riley go through the Journals see what you can find." Ben instructed, "Abigail, you, Aaron, and Alyssa find out what you can on Edward Teach. Dad and I gonna go pay a visit to John and Tess, they lived in North Carolina for a while. We're gonna see what they know about the chest, if anything."

Ben and Patrick left. Abigail, Aaron, and Alyssa soon left to go to the Library of Congress. It was just Emily and I left.

"Shall we go up and take a better look into those journals?" She asked.

I nodded and we went up to the attic.

**AN2: Next chapter starts the flashbacks.**


	8. Chapter 8: Saved

**AN: Okay here are the first of the flashbacks and a journal entry. There is a point to using these journals, I promise there's more to them than just a romance story, they're what's going to lead them to where they need to go, kind of. Ian has some important things that are needed for the treasure that his ancestor stole. Carissa has an important clue as well.**

**This chapter is dedicated to Guin Parris. **

**Happy reading everyone and Happy April Fools!**

**Chapter Eight: Saved**

**-Caribbean 1713-**

**Eva's POV**

"Mother, you cannot be serious about this engagement. Tell me father was trying to be humorous." I argued, "Commodore Howe? He's ancient."

"He is thirty-two my dear, only a twelve year difference. He is a fine catch for someone like yourself. You are not a young spring flower anymore and the town practically believes you to be a raving lunatic with all of your talk of the equality of women. You are lucky Commodore Howe has taken an interest in you. He finds your beauty to be more than a fair trade for personality flaws."

"Oh because that is exactly what someone wants in a husband!" I scoffed, "Someone who wants what you look like instead of who you are. That is not love. That is-"

Mother cut me off, "Do not start those ramblings. I do not care how you perceive the situation. You are marrying the commodore and that's final."

"I won't marry him." I stood my ground.

"You will and you are meeting with him this afternoon." Mother retorted, "You had best get changed into something appropriate."

"You mean I cannot go in this?" I asked sarcastically, referring to the simple dress that I was in.

"Not unless you wish to shame us more than you already have." Mother retorted and then looked at the maids, "Put her in something appropriate."

The maids dragged me off to put me in an appropriate dress, which most likely meant a tight corset, a skirt so heavy and so full you cannot walk in it, and a dress pattern that looks like it should be wallpaper or curtains.

"The mistress bought a new dress for you to wear for the Commodore, my lady." One of the maids said, I think her name was Colette and the other's was Simone, or something. I never really bothered to learn their names. They were not my maids. My maid, Madeline, who had been my age, left our service a short time ago. She has been free of this place ever since.

"Lovely…" I replied, trying not to roll my eyes. Knowing it was my Mother who picked the dress meant I was least likely to be fond of it.

Colette pulled out the dress, and I was right. It was yellow mostly and had some type of reddish pattern on it that looked like some type of floral print. The underskirt was a cream and the collar and the sleeves were trimmed with lace. It would have been a pretty dress if not for the color and print.

Mother came in as Colette was tying up the corset.

"How is it coming, Eva?" She asked, "It's supposed to be one of the latest styles in London."

"Women in London must have learned not to breathe." I retorted as Colette finished. I came out to show Mother the dress she had picked.

"Yes, I do say the Commodore will like it." Mother surmised, "It shows all of your assets."

I shuddered to think at what she's referring to as my assets as I put on the shoes that were supposed to go with this dress. Colette handed my hat and we headed out the door.

**-Washington D.C. 2013-**

**Riley's POV**

"What have you found so far?" Ben asked as he came into the attic. I noticed Emily had already left.

"She was betrothed to Commodore Jasper Howe, who was twelve years older, and didn't want to marry him. Her parents thought she was an embarrassment to the family and decided to marry her off to the first eligible man they could find who liked her beauty and didn't care about her mind." I summed up what I had just read, "Looks like the next entry is about what happens when she meets the commodore."

Ben nodded.

"Was she really that pretty?" I asked him. Ben nodded and walked over to where the journals were and pulled out a piece of paper that was loosely in the cover of one of the books. He handed me the piece of paper. It was a sketch. "She was beautiful…" I gawked.

"Thought you might think that." He replied, "Her husband did that."

"The Commodore?" I guessed.

Ben shook his head, "Keep reading."

He left and I continued to read.

**_Journal Entry Four_**

**_May 15, 1713_**

**_I had a meeting with Commodore Howe today and something happened…_**

**_A pirate saved my life…_**

**-Caribbean 1713-**

**Eva's POV:**

"I apologize if I seem forward, but I must speak my mind. This promotion throws into sharp relief that which I have not yet achieved. A marriage to a fine woman. You have become a fine woman, Eva." Commodore Howe stated. We were up at the top of a tower overlooking the sea.

I was not really listening to him as he talked. That was an awful thing to do to a person, but with the heat and this dress, it was a little hard. "I can't breathe." I told him.

"Yes I'm a bit nervous myself," He started, before everything went black.

I awoke coughing and my throat burning, my corset and the monstrosity of dress I was in were off however.

Looking back at me were beautiful ocean blue eyes. It took me a couple of seconds to realize it, but they belonged to a pirate.

**-Washington D.C. 2013-**

**Riley's POV**

**_Looking into his eyes, knowing he was a pirate, and knowing that he had saved me. Sparked many questions and thoughts in my mind, one more important than the others…_**

**_He was a pirate. Pirates are supposed to be awful human beings, barely even human by moral standard from what I've heard. If he was so bad, then why did he save me?_**

**_Realization dawned on me as the Commodore forcefully got him on to his feet, ignoring my arguments. This pirate who was headed to the gallows was my way to freedom to live a life without chains, figuratively, and out of this betrothal, and I knew just how to get it. _**

**_I'm going to spring him out of jail. _**


	9. Chapter 9: Out

**AN: Hey everyone, here's the next chapter. I've been having a lot of fun doing the 1700's stuff. I know I've been doing more flashbacks than the movies ever did, but I think since they're journals supposedly telling the story of what happened in that time period that it's okay. Next chapter or two, I might have a break from the journals, see what Ian has for the treasure. Maybe see a bit more of Carissa and Shippen. As I've already said, you won't see Bianca till much later, like probably mid-end of story later, I don't know how far yet. I'm just writing this as I go. **

**This chapter is dedicated to Guin Parris and sobreyra274. **

* * *

**"Soulmates are like the winds howling and the sea, you don't see it yet, but there's a storm brewin', something much bigger planned than you can imagine." - Me**

**Chapter Nine: Out**

"You came back quick." I surmised as I came down with a couple of the journals, "I thought you two would be gone for a couple of days, not an hour."

"We called John as we headed to the airport." Ben replied, "They weren't home. Where are you headed?"

"I'm gonna get Zach and going home." I replied, "He should have a bit of consistency and all of his stuff is at home. If it were just me, I would probably be here all night, but I have to take care of him. He's all I have left of my family right now until we can get Carissa back." Emily gave me Zach and I thanked her. "I'm gonna take a couple of journals with me to read tonight and when I come back tomorrow, I'll read the rest. How many are there?"

"Fifteen." Ben and Emily answered.

"Wow."

"The rest of the journals are smaller though. The first two are the longest." Emily replied.

I nodded, "I'll see you tomorrow."

**-Caribbean 1713-**

**Eva's POV:**

When I went to the gallows to spring him out, the guards were gone. Usually at a certain time in the later evening up until the early morning, the prison guards are allowed to go home. They figure there's no way the prisoners are getting out, so they might as well go home. The dog who keeps the keys is scared of the prisoners; he wouldn't give them the key. Not without help, I mean.

"Hello again." I greeted as I approached his cell. He was awake that was definite. He was beating his head against a wall. "You do know that isn't quite healthy to do that to yourself, right?"

He looked to me, a smirk formed on his face, "You're the girl from earlier."

"I am." I nodded, and introduced myself, "Eva Gates."

He looked at me oddly, but shook my hand, "Kaelen Flynn. People tend to call me Bones."

"Why?" I asked confused.

He shrugged, "That's all I had with me when I came into piracy."

"That makes sense."

"Aye, but what does not is the reason you are here, Miss Eva Gates."

"I've come to make you a deal." I stated, "I get you out of here and you take me with you."

"Oh dear god, I saved a woman with a hero complex." He muttered.

"I do not have a hero complex." I retorted, "And that's not even what a hero complex is. Someone with a hero complex seeks heroism or recognition, usually by creating a desperate situation which they can resolve."

He rolled his eyes, "Why do you want out so badly, love? Looks like you have everything you could ever want here. Gates, that's a pretty high up family in status."

"I have no freedom." I sighed, "I want the freedom to govern my own life. You can give me that, if you let me go with you."

"If I let you stay with me, be a pirate, and go wherever I go, you will let me out?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes." I answered. In all honesty I'd let him out either way. He saved my life. A life for a life, that's only fair.

"Alright." He nodded, "How are you getting me out of here?"

I called the dog with the keys over, kissed his head, and gently took the keys from him.

"I could have done that."

"I don't know how, he's been train to be scared of prisoners." I replied, with a small laugh, "He probably would have not gone ten feet near if I were not here."

I went to unlock his cell, but he stopped me, "A few quick things before you unlock that."

"If you go back on this deal-" I started.

"I may be a pirate, but I am a man of my word. You can come with me and I let you follow me around to your heart's content. I just need to know what I am getting myself into before I let you open this door."

"That's fair, I guess."

"Do you know how to use a sword?" He asked.

"No, but I'm a fast learner." I replied.

"Do you know your cartography?" He asked.

"Sort of, I can read and I know where the contents and most countries are and global positioning. Every little city or port in every different country is where it seems to get lost for me."

"I can live with that." He stated, "Can you cook?"

"No, my family had servants, but I've watched them cook many times, I believe I would get a handle on it eventually."

"I'm not going to ask if you can sail a ship, you're a woman." He stated, "I'll have to teach that as well."

I nodded, "Looking forward to it."

"Now not that that dress is not flattering, but do you have anything more masculine?" He asked.

I looked at him confused, "Masculine?"

"You're dress is very flattering to you, much more than the ridiculous yellow monstrosity you were wearing earlier, but it is not quite right for the situation you're about to get yourself into." He replied, "Pirates are also very superstitious about women on their ships."

"Then why did you agree to the deal?" I asked him confused.

"Because we both are trapped in a situation that we need each other to get out of, we're after the same thing: freedom."

"I don't have anything masculine, but I believe I know where we can find something for me to wear."

"Oh?"

"We're going to have to borrow one of the ships first."

**-Washington D.C. 2013-**

**Riley's POV**

**_…We stole the HMS Valiant, one of the fastest Navy battle ships in the Caribbean. After we made our way far enough out into sea, I went down below to find something to wear. I found some clothing small enough to be what a cabin boy might wear. They were a little big in some areas but they fit the job. We'd have to find something to do about my hair later. _**

**_I cannot believe I did this! I cannot believe I did this… Mother will be so furious when she finds out, but this feeling, this excitement is amazing. I have never felt this excited for anything in my entire life. _**

**_For like the first time ever, I'm completely free. _**

**_So many possibilities and the choices are all mine! I could running, and racing, and dancing, and chasing, and leaping and bounding. My heart is pounding. And my head is reeling. I'm finally having that feeling… Now's when my life begins!_**

"Why is she the black sheep?" I asked myself tiredly, "She just wanted her own life…"

Zach started to cry. I set the journal down and went to get him.


	10. Chapter 10: Heirloom Given by a Good Man

**AN: Hey everyone, here is the next chapter. So what I did was I showed a little bit of Ian, a little of Shippen, and then a journal entry. So I hope you guys like it. Oh before you read this I'm going to put a disclaimer before you guys read this: I have absolutely nothing against the name Bernard or the French. I love french food and the language is beautiful. I just wanted to say that before you read the chapter cause of the journal entry. **

**The chapter is dedicated to Guin Parris and Sobreya274. **

**Enjoy everyone!**

**Chapter Ten: An Heirloom Given by a Good Man**

**Ian's POV**

"So did Gates agree?" Ellie asked as she came in. I didn't have to answer. She could already tell by the look on my face. "I knew he would. No one would leave their family when they need them." She said, and then thought about it, "I'm sorry, I forgot about Alyssa. I didn't mean-"

"It's alright." I replied, "Getting her to go along with our plan would have never worked out. She's never approved of my career. She's always been a goody-goody two shoes. I was expecting her answer when I called her."

"She went to Interpol after you did." Ellie retorted, not upset at me, but about Alyssa.

"I am aware of that fact and the fact that they sent Bianca after her." I replied, "That is not something we should focus on now however. We focus on our next step."

"Which is?"

"Something you will have to wait for." I replied smirking, "How's the girl doing?"

"Fine I guess. Shippen keeps a close eye on her." She replied, "She's probably the most silent five year old child I've ever met. I haven't heard her utter a single word since she arrived."

"Seeing as she was sleeping for a majority of that time, I don't doubt that."

"Do you think-" She started.

"No, we wouldn't have gotten this far if she did, or if any of them did." I replied.

**Shippen's POV**

"You're very brave, you know that?" I told her, the locket around her neck caught my attention, "Where'd you get that lass?"

"Mommy gave it to me." She answered.

"You're going to have to hide it." I told her.

"Why?" She exclaimed confused.

"Because that locket is special and we don't want Ian noticing that you have it." I replied, "Tuck it under your top for now, we'll find a place for you to keep it later." I was lucky he didn't have hidden security cameras all over the insides of this place.

"Why is it special?"

"Because it's an heirloom." I replied, "Heirlooms have special-"

"Powers?" She asked.

"I guess they do, lass." I replied, "What did your mother tell you about that locket?"

"It was lucky."

I nodded. Not exactly what I would have said about it, the locket didn't contain her luck gene, she did, but I'll go with it. "You know, you can't find lockets like this anymore. Especially ones with stories."

"Stories?" She asked excitedly.

"Aye, lass, stories." I smiled. "I am from Scotland, but my mother was Irish and she once told me about a couple of pirates, two brothers: a pirate captain and his first mate. The Flynn brothers, Alexander and Kaelen Flynn, who had worked with and eventually, for a while, for Blackbeard; one of the brothers, I forget which, had a lass whom he loved, and as a symbol of his love for her, he gave her a necklace that looks similar to that one." I told her. I wish I actually remembered the story. I remembered the locket and how she described it, like it was important. It was just a story though. Nothing but a story.

"Why would Mr. Howe want it though?"

"A lot of reasons." I replied.

"Treasure reasons?"

"Safety reasons."

"His safety?"

I shook my head, "Yours."

**Riley's POV**

**_Journal Entry Forty One_**

**_June 31, 1713_**

**_This pirate port is amazing, I love it here, but Kaelen…Sometimes I want to ring that blasted man's neck. Have I told you what he decided to call me because of pirate superstition?_**

**_Bernard! Bernard! Out of all of the names he could have chosen, what possessed him to pick Bernard? Couldn't he have picked a less boring name or at least an attractive name? No, I am stuck with the name Bernard. _**

**_How he even thought of the name is beyond me. He's irish, Bernard is like a French name. I am not French, I am English. I am not even going to begin on how insulting being compared to a Frenchman will be. But I am insult to the English name now, according to the law, well not Eva Gates me, but pirate Bernard is and someday soon pirate Eva will be. I won't always pretend to be a boy or a man or a young adult, whichever age Bernard is supposed to be. Someday, I will be my age and gender. Someday I will be me again, or at least the me I want to be. _**

**_Kaelen Flynn is not so bad though. When he wants to be, he can be quite charming. That stays between us though. I could be in worse situations. This one is a risk, but as contradictory as it sounds, it is a safe one. He knows what he is doing and he is as he has said before he is a man of his word. I do not know if he is a great man. There are so many flaws and faults to him. He is very strange and complex with so many layers to him. I can say though, he is a good man…_**


	11. Chapter 11: Something More

**AN: Hey everyone, sorry for the wait. I had a few problems getting my thoughts together on the chapter. Thank you Guin Parris for the help on the chapter. This chapter's a little bigger than some of the others, so I hope that'll make it worth the wait. **

**The chapter is dedicated to sweetortonlover86, Always and a day Love, rottieluv77, Shadowsammy, and Guin Parris. **

_**A man has two reasons for doing anything – a good reason and the real reason. – J.P. Morgan**_

**Chapter Eleven: Something More**

**_Journal Entry Fifty Two_**

**_July 12, 1713_**

**_I am going to miss this port. So exciting and strange, pirates as far as the eye can see, although to them they're only people who happen to be pirates; they are free to be whoever or do whoever they want. This time it was easier leaving, we actually have a crew instead of Kaelen and I trying to do everything. _**

**_The crew…What can I say about the crew? They are different. We've got a man who is about three feet tall, Leopold, he is very funny. Very lively and charismatic. He stays in the crow's nest for the most part. And then there's the giant, he is the tallest man I've ever seen and his name is Tiny. They are my favorites so far of the crew. _**

**_I stay in the Galley most of the time. Kaelen has it in his head that since I've watched people cook, I can cook…Hopefully no one gets poisoned from this first meal..._**

**-Caribbean 1713-**

**Eva's POV**

"Kaelen, what are you expecting me to do in here?" I asked him a little annoyed and confused, "I cannot cook."

The galley door was shut we could talk freely.

"You'll get a handle on it eventually." He laughed, "We didn't starve while we were on our own."

"There was food on the ship to feed the two of us." I argued, "What do you expect me to do with this stuff? I don't know any recipes or how to use any of it." I looked at the dead chicken. It was still feathered, "I don't even know what I'm supposed to do with that."

"You cook it, love." He replied, "Where do you think your food comes from?"

"Farmer's markets and butcher shops?" I guessed sheepishly.

"And before that they were alive." He replied, "This is the safest place for you to be."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, "You didn't worry about my safety when we were-"

"Didn't have to, you never left my sight."

"Yes I-" I started to argue, but then realized he was right, I didn't, "What is being in here supposed to keep me safe from?"

"We're going to find Captain Hornigold, my brother is part of his crew. He has agreed to take us on as part of his crew."

"Is there something about the captain that I need to be weary of?"

"No, his crew is though. With the exception of my brother, that specific crew is nothing to be trifled with." He answered, "Do as I say, when I tell you and how I tell you to, especially when we get to Hornigold. For right now I need you to stay here, try to make something, anything, edible, and don't do anything stupid."

I rolled my eyes, "Go be captain while you still can."

"Try not to poison us, Bernard." He left. I looked around the galley trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do.

**-Washington D.C. 2013-**

**Riley's POV**

"So has she written anything about the treasure yet?" Abigail asked me. I looked up from the journal I was reading. We had brought the rest of them down to the main level. I was reading the fourth one out of her collection. I was half way through it. I was a little surprised she never restarted the journal entry count when she changed journals, but she never did.

"No, they just caught up with Hornigold. Its 1713, so I have a feeling she might be about to meet Blackbeard sometime around the end of this or beginning of the next journal."

"Why does that mean she's going to meet Blackbeard?" Alyssa asked confused.

"Blackbeard joined Hornigold's crew in 1713, he was the one who basically gave Blackbeard his start in piracy."

"What does she write about in those journals?" Alyssa asked, "Wouldn't she just update it when exciting things happen to her?"

"She writes about Kaelen mostly." I replied not really digging into detail. If she really wanted to know, she would read it herself. "How's the research on Blackbeard going?"

"Not much, anything about treasure is legend according to scholars." Abigail replied, "Our best guess is there might be a chest in North Carolina."

"Well, I've got around four or five years before I get to the chest." I told her.

"If there even is one." She replied skeptically.

"There better be." I retorted.

"There is. Ian's after it, he has to know something we don't." Alyssa commented, "Think about it, he's a consulting criminal as you call it, he doesn't like getting his hands dirty and pays people to do his dirty work for him. We aren't being paid with a sum of money of course, our payment would be the-" She stopped before she finished the sentence, realizing it wasn't the best thing to say.

"Alyssa, let's see what Ben's got on the legends about the treasure." They both left and I went back to reading.

**Abigail's POV**

Alyssa and I went into the dining room to see how Ben was doing with the legends.

"You have anything?" I asked him.

"No, there's no facts or a real basis for any of these." Ben replied, "As far as we know, all of these are just stories." He sighed, "Ian's has to know something we don't."

"Riley's reading the journals, are they going to help?" Alyssa asked.

"Possibly, I don't remember enough of them to tell you." Ben replied.

"Where did Emily and Patrick go?" I asked.

"To find John." He replied.

"Does he know-" Alyssa started.

"He knows about Eva." Ben replied, "He studied her journals for years. Don't ask, I don't know why; I guess he had a fascination with her. That and Eva Gates isn't a family secret, just the black sheep."

"How did she become the black sheep?" I asked.

"She murdered her groom on their wedding night." Ben replied.

"She killed the pirate?" Alyssa asked.

Ben shook his head, "She killed Jasper Howe."

**Ian's POV:**

"So why this treasure? Why Blackbeard's treasure?" Ellie asked, "Any ties or do you just like the story?"

"Blackbeard's treasure holds a tie between the Gates family and mine. If you go far enough down the line, I have an ancestor by the name of Commodore Jasper Howe. I'm directly related to him through his brother, Dr. James Howe. There has been a story passed down for centuries about these two brothers. Jasper was killed by the only woman he ever loved, Eva Gates, who killed him on their wedding night. James, vowing to avenge his older brother, went after her, finding her with the pirate who kidnapped her in the first place, in love and talking about treasure, Blackbeard's treasure."

"Wow, sounds like she had a pretty good case of Stockholm syndrome." Ellie commented.

"Most likely, anyway they had planned to steal the treasure and keep it for themselves and their descendants. The pirates relative or friend or other had died for it to keep it safe, and to avenge him they were going to take it back and put it into a trove or a cave with the rest of the treasure that they had found over the years."

"Smart plan for a couple of pirates."

"Yes, well, Jasper followed them while they enacted their plan all the way to the trove. He killed Kaelen to get to Eva, and then killed her. He died on the voyage back from an incurable ailment at the time."

"So this treasure is revenge, not only on Ben and his family, but Eva Gates and a random pirate?" She asked, "What is it with your family and Gates women?"

I didn't quite know the answer to that, or if there even was answer I could give her.

"I'm not sure." I told her hoping that would suffice, knowing I would most likely hear about it at some point later. She knows and she's not threatened by Bianca, but knowing that I was not the first Howe to fall for a Gates woman could tempt that.

**Riley's POV**

**_Journal Entry Fifty Six_**

**_July 15, 1713_**

**_It didn't take very long to catch up with Hornigold surprisingly. He was off the coast St. Thomas. I will never say it aloud, but Kaelen was right by keeping me in the galley. Hornigold was just an old man, he didn't look very intimidating, but his crew did... _**

**-Caribbean 1713-**

**Eva's POV**

"Bernard?" Someone asked coming into the galley.

"Oui?" I asked, noticing that it wasn't Kalean, I lowered my voice to sound more like a man's. It sounded like a boy's but it was close enough. After I got the name Bernard, to try to be more French, I decided to put my French lessons good use and mix some French in with my English, like my maids had from time to time. "Leopald, good to see you out of your nest. Que puis-je faire pour vous?"

"We're coming up on Hornigold's ship."

"C'était rapide." I replied surprised.

"Yeah, we're surprised too." He replied, "I have orders from the captain to inform you that you are to remain in the galley and he will come and get you if there is a need."

I rolled my eyes and nodded, "Merci, Leopald."

"I don't get why you're not up on the deck with the rest of us." Leopald commented.

I shrugged, "Needed here, I guess."

Leopald nodded and left. It wasn't for another several hours that another person came into my galley.

"That's just the galley. There's nothing interesting in there. Just the food, cooking supplies, and our cook, Bernard, he's a French chef. I found him wasted off of Côte Rôtie in Tortuga, barely speaks a lick of English." Kaelen said loud enough for me to hear him through the door.

"Drunk on French wine?" I quietly asked myself, pensively. I rolled my eyes and went along with his shenanigans and got myself a bottle of French wine from his private supply. If Bernard's gonna be plastered and barley speak a lick of English, Bernard's gonna drink good wine.

I took a swig of the wine from the bottle, "Hmm…Cranberries." I remarked about the taste and took another swig.

The door opened to Kaelen, an older man, and a very intimidating looking bearded man.

"Bonjour Capitaine," I greeted Kaelen, "Que puis-je faire pour vous?"

Kaelen looked at me oddly, "Um, everything's fine, Bernard. Captain Hornigold wanted to see the kitchen; with him is one of his crew, Edward Teach."

I nodded, "Enchanté de faire votre connaissance."

"What's for dinner, Bernard?" Kaelen asked conversationally.

"Poulet." I replied.

"What?"

I held up the decapitated chicken, "Poulet."

"Oh well you better get a move on it then." He replied, it was obvious that he was scared of them, well Teach at least. "As I said, great cook, doesn't speak a bit of English"

"Fine, you may keep the ship as long as you follow the rules of my ship. I want your man Tiny however, for your brother Alexander. You may have the rest of your crew." Hornigold and Kaelen left talking. Teach gave me one last look over and followed them. A terrified shiver ran down my spine.

"Bernard?" Kaelen asked as he came in, after Hornigold and his crew left. I had a little too much to drink when he had come back. I was sitting next to the counter on my second bottle of wine. The door shut behind him. "Eva?"

I looked up at him, "Teach knows."

"It's possible." Kaelen commented, coming around the counter when he found me he laughed, "I've been there a time or two. Now you're a pirate." He sat down next to me, "So, someone possibly finding out the reason why you went on this binge?"

"Your wine tastes like cranberries." I replied, smiling.

"Blimey, you're pissed, aren't you?"

"I'm not angry."

"Drunk, love." He laughed, taking away the bottle.

"You have a nice laugh." I told him, not really noticing the loss of the bottle. He raised an eyebrow at me took a swig of the wine.

"Not falling for me, are you, love?" He asked.

I snorted, "No."

**-Washington D.C. 2013-**

**Riley's POV**

**_...We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover it within themselves. – Galileo Galilei_**


	12. Chapter 12: A Brother

**AN: Hey everyone! I tried to make this a long chapter. This one is mostly focused in the past. I do not own the legend of Mulan. I did put it in here. So I'm putting a disclaimer on that now. I do own the poem at the end however. It's untitled and not my best, but it fit this story, so I put it in. Oh, and if the Irish is bad, sorry, I used Google translate**

**I would like to dedicate this chapter to Guin Parris, Musical Cake, Always and a day Love, LinXiaoAi17, and forgetmenot802. **

**Enjoy and happy reading!**

_**"The flower that blooms and grows in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all." - Mulan**_

**_"If you aren't willing to risk it all, then you don't want it bad enough." - Disney movie _****(AN2: If someone can tell me what movie this is from, I will write you a character in the story. It's been bothering me for a very long time now. It's a disney movie, around 90's, I think. The character saying it was kind of disappointed in the other character.)**

**_"You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him." — Audrey Hepburn_**

**Chapter Twelve: A Brother**

**_Journal Eighty Four_**

**_September 23, 1713_**

**_Alexander Flynn is something else. Plato once said the man who makes everything that leads to happiness depends upon himself, and not upon other men, has adopted the very best plan for living happily. This is the man of moderation, the man of manly character and of wisdom. That explains Alexander to his very core. He was the wiser and younger of the two brothers. He was our captain under Hornigold. Kaelen was first mate. Alexander prefers to be the only one in charge of the ship and crew. Not that he minded, it was less work for him to do. He spends more time in the galley now for some reason. In the early mornings, he teaches me cartography. Around meal times, he teaches me to make Irish dishes. At night after everyone as gone to sleep, he teaches me astronomy and navigation. It is nice having Kaelen around. _**

**_The more time I spend around Kaelen, the more I like being around him. He's funny and charming. He's more intelligent than I thought he was. I knew he was clever, but he was something else. The knowledge I lacked in, he made up for in spades. I could talk to him. I mean I could talk to Leopald as well, not about who I was before now. With Kalean, I can talk to him as Eva and not Bernard. I think I like him…_**

**-Caribbean 1713-**

**Eva's POV **

"Tá tú cailín deas. Cén fáth nach bhfuil tú pósta?" He spoke in fluent Irish when he was wasted.

"What?" I asked confused.

He sighed, "Why aren't you married?"

"I went away with you." I replied simply.

"Níl sé sin cad atá i gceist agam agus tá a fhios agat é. I gceist agam cén fáth nach raibh tú pósta roimh i gceist againn, a ghrá." He replied. I raised my eyebrow at him, "Before we met." He clarified.

"All of that means before we met?" I retorted, already knowing the answer.

"Tá." He replied sarcastically. I guess that meant yes.

"After my sister came of age, all of my suitors rushed to her side. She was younger and better looking compared to me, who was too skinny, too short, and too much of everything than what they needed in a wife. My sister got married to one of the suitors who were after me."

"Sin uafásach. An raibh maith leat an fear?" He asked.

"Did I like him?" I guessed. He rolled his eyes and nodded, "I did. Very much for a long time."

"Cad a athrú?" He asked. I had heard him speak that phrase before. It meant what changed.

"Bhuail mé leat." I replied in his own tongue he was too drunk to remember it tomorrow. I picked that phrase up over the months I had been around him. I had heard him say it to another girl while we were in Tortuga. It meant I met you. Unlike when he said it too her, I meant it.

He looked down and then looked at me, "Eva, love, we can't. I-"

"Save it, Kaelen." I replied, "When I'm on this ship, I am Bernard and not Eva Gates. You're not interested in a cross-dresser. I get it. Don't worry; you'll be too drunk to even remember this conversation. I'll talk to the captain, so when we make port I'll be free to leave if you do." I told him. "Now get out of my galley!"

He looked down and pushed himself up. He walked to the door and said, "Mo shaol athrú freisin." He looked up at me, "Níl sé sin nach féidir liom buíochas leat, tá sé sin ag dul duit níos fearr." He left shutting the door behind him.

I took the bottle of wine he left on the floor and took a drink.

The next morning I went to speak with Captain Alexander Flynn.

"What would you like to speak to me about, Bernard?" Alexander asked, hopping up onto the table of the dining room. Everyone else was working. Kaelen was at the helm taking over for him. "How about the fact that you are not French and that you're actually English? How about the fact that you're a woman pretending to be a man? Smart idea on a pirate ship by the way. Reminds me of a Chinese legend, have you ever heard the legend of Mulan?" He smiled to himself.

"I can't say that I have." I replied. I might as well go with it.

"I heard it when I was in Xi'an. I liked it so much that I memorized it." He told me and then recited the tale.

"Tsiek tsiek and again tsiek tsiek,

Mu-lan weaves, facing the door.

You don't hear the shuttle's sound,

You only hear Daughter's sighs.

They ask Daughter who's in her heart,

They ask Daughter who's on her mind.

"No one is on Daughter's heart,

No one is on Daughter's mind.

Last night I saw the draft posters,

The Khan is calling many troops,

The army list is in twelve scrolls,

On every scroll there's Father's name.

Father has no grown-up son,

Mu-lan has no elder brother.

I want to buy a saddle and horse,

And serve in the army in Father's place."

In the East Market she buys a spirited horse,

In the West Market she buys a saddle,

In the South Market she buys a bridle,

In the North Market she buys a long whip.

At dawn she takes leave of Father and Mother,

In the evening camps on the Yellow River's bank.

She doesn't hear the sound of Father and Mother calling,

She only hears the Yellow River's flowing water cry tsien tsien.

At dawn she takes leave of the Yellow River,

In the evening she arrives at Black Mountain.

She doesn't hear the sound of Father and Mother calling,

She only hears Mount Yen's nomad horses cry tsiu tsiu.

She goes ten thousand miles on the business of war,

She crosses passes and mountains like flying.

Northern gusts carry the rattle of army pots,

Chilly light shines on iron armor.

Generals die in a hundred battles,

Stout soldiers return after ten years.

On her return she sees the Son of Heaven,

The Son of Heaven sits in the Splendid Hall.

He gives out promotions in twelve ranks

And prizes of a hundred thousand and more.

The Khan asks her what she desires.

"Mu-lan has no use for a minister's post.

I wish to ride a swift mount

To take me back to my home."

When Father and Mother hear Daughter is coming

They go outside the wall to meet her, leaning on each other.

When Elder Sister hears Younger Sister is coming

She fixes her rouge, facing the door.

When Little Brother hears Elder Sister is coming

He whets the knife, quick quick, for pig and sheep.

"I open the door to my east chamber,

I sit on my couch in the west room,

I take off my wartime gown

And put on my old-time clothes."

Facing the window she fixes her cloudlike hair,

Hanging up a mirror she dabs on yellow flower powder

She goes out the door and sees her comrades.

Her comrades are all amazed and perplexed.

Traveling together for twelve years

They didn't know Mu-lan was a girl.

"The he-hare's feet go hop and skip,

The she-hare's eyes are muddled and fuddled.

Two hares running side by side close to the ground,

How can they tell if I am he or she?"" He finished the tale.

"It's a beautiful story, Captain."

"Alexander." He corrected. "You know the flower that booms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Don't leave. My brother's an idiot." He stated simply.

"Kaelen is not an idiot; he's brilliant."

"I think that is the first time I've heard my brother and brilliant in the same sentence. It sounds nice." He said hopping off of the table. "Give me thirty days."

"What happens in thirty days?"

"We will be in England." He smiled, "We're headed to a Masque Ball for All Hallows Eve. Just a simple pickpocket gig, get some jewels while we're there, maybe a crown or two. And maybe some masks. It'll be fun."

"Sounds like you guys will have a grand time."

"You're coming with us." He stated.

"I work in the galley and no one knows I'm female."

"You, Kaelen, and I are the only members of the crew who know how to behave in polite society."

"How did you-"

"Kaelen is the most talkative person when he's pissed; you just have to get through the language barrier. Unfortunately for me, being his brother, there is no language barrier. " He answered before I could asked, "I'm not telling you what he says. It's not important. Now, give me till the Masque Ball. I have a lady friend who works inside the castle where the ball is being held and she will turn you back into the lady you are. My lady friend and I focus on the crown jewels."

"England's crown jewels are under lock and key in the tower of London. They have been since 1671 after Thomas Blood tried to steal them." I replied.

"England is not the only country with crown jewels." He stated, "My friend and I plan to work around England's jewels. As lovely as they are, we plan to be realistic in our conquests. We have more experience in theft, so we will be going after the bigger items. You and Kaelen work the ballroom. He'll suspect you're still pretending to be male and go on about his business, you will know who he is however, and will woo him, and that'll solve all of our problems."

"What about me coming back as a woman on this damn pirate ship and my identity as Bernard?"

"Bernard you fell behind, Eva you is a friend of the captain and the first mate and any man who harms her will be personally thrown off the ship by whichever Flynn brother who can get there first." He stated, "Problem solved."

"Not all of the crew members will listen to that, you know." I told him.

"They will if they don't want to be thrown overboard." He replied.

"You are really sure of yourself, aren't you?" I asked him disbelievingly.

He didn't take offense to it at all, he just smiled at the question, "Of course I am, I'm the youngest and the captain, I have to be." He laughed lightly to himself at the thought of it, "Now, back to the galley. My brother's probably waiting on you to go back down."

"I threw him out of my galley last night." I replied.

"You throw him out every night." Alexander pointed out. It was true. A lot of times, he was too drunk and put up the language barrier. Other times, I knew if I didn't throw him out, I'd never get any sleep. Not that I really got away from him then nowadays.

**-Washington D.C. 2013-**

**Riley's POV**

**_…I don't know what it is about Kaelen, but I think I finally have the right way to say it in here. _**

**I turned the page not to find another paragraph or a new entry, but what looked to be a poem.**

**_Every little thing I do_**

**_Trickles down_**

**_And lands on you_**

**_Every time I want to try_**

**_I get it wrong _**

**_And I wonder why_**

**_I want you to notice _**

**_To make you see_**

**_How amazing we could be_**

**_Would you listen_**

**_If I find_**

**_The words to explain_**

**_What's on my mind_**

**_Every little thing I do_**

**_Trickles down _**

**_And lands on you_**

**_I wonder every day_**

**_What you would say_**

**_If sometimes_**

**_I think about _**

**_How to take _**

**_Your breath away_**

**_What can I do_**

**_To make you see_**

**_There's more to me_**

**_Than just the side you see_**

**_Every little thing I do_**

**_Trickles down _**

**_And lands on you_**

**_I don't plan_**

**_To get it wrong_**

**_I just don't wanna run_**

**_In circles all my life long_**

**_What would you do_**

**_What would you say_**

**_If I confessed _**

**_Everything I feel _**

**_About you today_**

I finished reading the poem, it was the last thing written in the eighth journal.

I grabbed journal nine thinking about what she had written.


	13. Chapter 13: Better than Cinderella

**AN: Hey everyone, here is the next installment. The poem in here at the end is mine. It's called Brave Face. **

**There is more Irish in this chapter. Sorry if it's wrong, I used Google translate. **

**Oh the song referenced in the chapter is One Step Closer from The Little Mermaid (musical)**

**This chapter is dedicated to Guin Parris and Always and a day Love. **

**Happy Reading!**

_**"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together." – Marilyn Monroe**_

_**"Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing always find a song. At the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet." ― Plato**_

_**The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is. – Winston Churchill**_

**Chapter Thirteen: Better than Cinderella**

**_Journal Hundred and One_**

**_October 31, 1713_**

**_What a night…_**

**-England 1713-**

**Eva's POV**

We had arrived in England almost a week ago. With the Naval ship and the uniforms that were found on the ship, we fit in rather nicely. We were as inconspicuous as we could be. Most of the crew had stayed aboard, but those who knew how act in polite society or pickpocket could come ashore. A couple of the crew members allied themselves with the cabin boy to form a pickpocketing ring, the others headed off by themselves. As long as they weren't caught, we didn't care. Kaelen, Alexander and I were headed to meet with Alexander's friend from the castle.

"Where did your friend say to meet her?" Kaelen asked as we walked through the market place.

"We will meet her when we do. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Alexander replied. I laughed seeing the reaction Kaelen gave him.

Kaelen groaned in frustration, throwing his head back in annoyance. I opened my mouth to reply with a quote myself, but Kaelen stopped me before I could, "Don't even start. He already makes me feel like a fool."

"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool." I replied quoting Shakespeare. Kaelen laughed.

"Very funny." Alexander replied sarcastically.

"Not very fun when it's the other way around is it?" I asked him. He rolled his eyes. Kaelen was happy though.

"I am not a fool." He smiled lightly.

"We are all fools in love." I replied, referring to his lady friend. He gave me a challenging look, I returned it. Kaelen didn't remember anything about what I had told him a month ago and I intend to keep it that way.

"Cad atá ar siúl?" Kaelen asked Alexander.

Alexander shrugged, "Shíleann sí nach bhfuil tú ag cuimhneamh ar an méid a tharla an mhí seo caite."

"Ní raibh mé cuimhneamh orthu. Dúirt tú liom cad a tharla an mhí seo caite." Kaelen replied blankly.

"Agus nach bhfuil sí a fhios sin." Alexander told him.

"Tá tú ag pleanáil rud éigin agus rud éigin a insíonn dom nach bhfuil mé ag dul go maith liom é. Má casadh cibé pleanála amach go holc, níl mé ag cabhrú leat." Kalen replied sternly. He looked like he was warning him.

"Gentlemen, if you don't mind, I would rather you both speak in English." I told them. They looked down at me. "Not that the Irish isn't pretty. I, however, do not know what you are saying."

"Ar chóir dúinn indulge di?" Alexander asked Kaelen. He smirked and nodded.

"It is a man's office, but not yours." A cloaked lady with a thick French accent recited to us. Kaelen and I looked at her like she was crazy.

"I do love nothing in the world so well as you. Is not that strange?" Alexander recited in return.

The woman took her hood off, "It is nice to see you, Alexander."

The woman had caramel skin and brown eyes. Her hair was a very dark brown, almost black. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw her. I was so surprised.

"Madeline?" I asked in my regular voice, completely dropping the male façade.

"Eva?" She asked, in recognition, "Why are you here and dressed as a man?"

"I'm a pirate." I replied simply.

She looked at me annoyed, "You were not one when I left."

"I was not betrothed to Commodore Jasper Howe when you left either, but to my dismay, I am."

"Tá sí luadhadh an iomadamhlacht acht?" Alexander asked Kaelen a little annoyed.

"Tá, tá sí. Bhí a fhios agam nuair a rinne muid an déileáil." Kaelen replied.

"Bhí a fhios agat a bhí sí ag gabháil do Commodore agus ghlac tú léi a bhfuil tú mar sin féin? Leathcheann tú. D'fhéadfadh muid a bhfuil an cabhlach ré i ndiaidh ár cinnirí toisc go raibh tú a chur uirthi le leat!" Alexander yelled at him angrily.

"Alexander, we're in a public place." Madeline scolded him. Alexander took a deep breath and nodded.

"They're talking about you." Madeline whispered to me.

"I figured." I replied quietly as we watched them argue passionately in full on Irish. "I heard the word Commodore. Do you know what they're saying?"

"Only tiny bits and pieces." Madeline replied.

"Shábháil sí mo shaol. Bhí mé i an scaffold, ní raibh mé gotten amach gan a cabhrú leat. Ba léir theastaigh uaithi a saoirse. Ní mian léi é a phósadh an Commodore. Sí riamh raibh, ní féidir léi seasamh an fear. Rinne sí an déileáil le liom, ní raibh sí réidh le haghaidh pósadh agus an righin a bhí luadhadh an iomadamhlacht acht sí, ní féidir liom an milleán uirthi ar feadh tréimhse nach mian leo é a phósadh. An fear a bhí uafásach." Kaelen replied, "Alexander, this isn't the time or place to discuss this. We have other matters to take care of."

Alexander agreed vexed, "Alright, this is not over."

"Would not have it any other way." Kaelen replied.

"Madeline, do you have what we need?" Alexander asked her.

Madeline nodded, "I do." She smiled and pulled a small poach out from under her cloak. "In there are your masks. As ordered, I'm taking this one with me." Madeline took my wrist and said, "I'll return her to you Alexander, after I am finished with her. Make her almost recognizable again."

As we walked off, Kaelen looked at me confused. Alexander dragged him away.

"Where are we going, Madeline?" I asked her after Kaelen was out of sight.

"To turn you back into a lady." She replied determinedly, "At least for tonight anyway."

"That does not answer my question, Madeline." I replied, "Where are we going?"

"I have a friend in west London who is a dress maker. She'll possibly have something for you for tonight. I've got a mask, we just need to get you ready. You're best colors are white, blue, violet, and pink. The mask I have is ivory; we'll see what she has."

The dress maker, Emma, had a dress to match the mask. The most beautiful and expensive dress in the store to be exact. It was a quarter sleeve ivory ball gown with such exquisite detail that would have put Cinderella's ball gown and glass slippers to shame.

"I cannot afford that." I stated looking at the dress.

"No one can. It's worth more than its weight in gold." Emma replied, "You're not buying it. You're borrowing it. I want it back after the ball is over."

"You'll have you're dress back." Madeline stated rolling her eyes, "Let's get her in it and dress her up, make her ravishing. She has someone she has to impress tonight."

"At least I've seen worse." Emma sighed before she and Madeline started to work on me.

"Why is the eye power necessary?" I asked, as they were painting my face, "It's going to be covered by the mask."

"Oh for god's sake." Emma looked to Madeline vexed, "Is she new at this or something?"

"She has been living with pirates for god knows how long, don't mind her. Just finish her face, I'm going to get her mask and find some jewelry to wear."

"Jewelry was not part of our agreement." Emma retorted.

"You're going to let a young woman walk out of this store in the crown jewel of you dress shop without something to decorate it with?" Madeline countered.

"The dress can speak for itself. Any jewelry you find to match it will not be from me." Emma retorted.

"Alright Emma." Madeline conceded and then went to get the mask. When she came back, Emma had finished. Madeline put the floral ivory mask on and guided me towards the full length mirror so I could get a good look at myself. My dark chestnut brown hair was in a classic Georgian hairstyle. Even without jewelry to go with the dress, I looked like a princess, or at least someone who came out of a fairytale. The dress was stunning and I looked amazing in it. I could barely tell it was me looking back in the mirror. I almost felt like someone else was looking back at me, but it was me.

**-Washington D.C. 2013-**

**Riley's POV**

**_I don't know if Emma and Madeline had used magic or if it had been too long since I had looked in a mirror as who I really was, but I was astounded at the woman looking back at me. _**

**_My sister had always been the beautiful one. She had always been the one to draw the eyes of every suitor that passed by. She looked exotic with her high cheek bones and ice blue eyes, her blonde hair the color of the sun on a warm summer day, and quite a few years younger than I. I felt horribly plain compared to her. The woman looking back at me was nowhere near plain, she was beautiful. She was stunning. I could hardly believe she was me and neither could Alexander when Madeline and I met up with him._**

**-England 1713-**

"O! she doth teach the torches to burn bright

It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night

Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear;

Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear." Alexander recited from Romeo and Juliet when he saw us, "You did a marvelous job with her, Madeline. Eva, tá tú álainn."

"What does that mean?" I asked him confused.

"You are beautiful." He smiled, "Now go in there and go after my foolish brother."

"In life, each of us must sometimes play the fool." I replied with a Yiddish proverb, smiling as I headed off in the direction of the castle.

**-Washington D.C. 2013-**

**Riley's POV**

**_When I found Kaelen, he was in all black and was wearing a black mask, unlike his brother who was in gold, blue, and white with a gold and ivory mask. It was very easy to find him; no one had eyes like his, not even Alexander. Unlike Alexander's eyes that reflected the sky, Kaelen's eyes reflected the sea. Those eyes, I could spot anywhere…_**

**-England 1713-**

**Eva's POV**

"Moliere once said that all the ills of mankind, all the tragic misfortunes that fill the history books, all the political blunders, all the failures of the great leaders have arisen merely from a lack of skill at dancing." I told him as I came up to him.

"Did he?" He asked, "I have not heard that specific phrase before. I am not much of one for words though." He stated with a smirk gracing his lips. I smiled lightly to myself, wondering if he recognized me.

"Oh, so you are more of a dancer than a wordsmith?" I asked, wanting to laugh. I had seen the way he acted with women. He was charming, but will say anything to get close to the current object of his affections.

"Who needs words? Dancing beats small talk any day." He replied, as the music began to play again. "It's the way your feet smile or laugh. Since it's felt instead of heard, it says so much more than language ever could." He said gently taking my hand, leading me to dance. "And every little step, every single step is one step closer to saying what you feel."

We started to dance.

As the song started to slow from a Viennese waltz to more of a romantic slow waltz, he said, "A dance is like a conversation except your lips don't ever need to part and once you've begun, you'll speak as one cheek to cheek, toe to toe, heart to heart…Dancing is a language that is felt instead of heard, but it says much more than language ever could and every little step, every single step, is one step closer to being understood."

I was dazed by his words and the dance. I felt more for Kaelen at this moment than I had when I first realized I felt romantically for him, or even a month ago when I told him I felt something for him. He was drunk and said a lot of things in Irish that I didn't understand.

I thought about the situation we were entering into. This was not good. Alexander's plan, or at least what I knew of it, was not a good one, especially if Kaelen didn't know who I was. I could be anyone to him at this masque. I didn't want to be one of those girls he had and then disappeared. I'd rather be Bernard.

"I have to go." I said quite enough so only he could hear me. I retreated from his warm, comforting arms and left the ball, pickpocketing some jewels and food on the way.

"Eva!" I heard an Irish brogue calling my name when I reached the outskirts of the castle. I froze in my place.

I took a deep breath and turned around. I took in his appearance as he walked over to me. He had his mask off and he was panting and out of breath. "Kaelen, why are you panting?"

"I was running." He replied, "I need to talk to you."

"I don't have time to talk. I have to return this dress."

"You're a pirate. Keep the bloody dress." He rolled his eyes, "I need to say something. It will only take a second."

"What?" I asked taking my mask off.

"When we first enacted our deal, I thought you were one of the most stubborn annoying women in the world."

"That's nice." I commented annoyed.

"I wasn't finished." He said a little vexed, "As we spent more time together, things started to change. Things changed when we went to Tortuga. When Alexander became captain. After you told me you had feelings for me. A few moments ago when we danced."

"I thought you didn't remember…"

"I did and when Alexander reminded me, it was even clearer." Kaelen replied, "I didn't realize any of this until I was standing in the middle of the ball all by myself. So, Eva, marry me because I would like you to stay. If the Navy did find you, you would mostly likely have to go back and if you were to stay on the ship and an unmarried woman, as much as my brother would like to think, we would not be able to protect you all of the time."

"Trust me you don't want to be with me." I replied shaking my head, "I think it would be easier if we-"

"It would be easier." He cut me off, knowing where I was headed.

I shook my head, knowing that would not be as easy. "I'm scared."

He nodded in agreement and said, "Me too."

He closed the gap between us kissing me firmly and full of emotion and want. After I fully realized what was happening, I kissed him back. I pulled away lightly, "I thought people got down on one knee when they proposed."

"I'll take that as a yes." Kaelen replied, kissing me again.

"I did not know pirates got married." I told him as we headed back to the ship.

"Pirates do as they wish, love. It is the benefit to being a pirate." Kaelen smiled, "I did not think you would be the type who would not be with someone without marrying them."

"I would stay, Kaelen, even if you hadn't proposed." I replied.

He laughed lightly, "Tú mo ghrá." He smiled brightly, "That is not what I meant, darlin'."

I thought for a moment about what he had said. "Oh." I realized the meaning, of what he had said previously, "Tú mo ghrá? What does that mean?"

He shook his head, "Something I should have said a long time ago."

**-Caribbean 2013-**

**Ian's POV**

"Anything new?" Ellie asked. I had called Ben earlier to check on his status. They hadn't found anything yet.

"No, they're in the right direction though." I replied, "I heard someone talking about Eva Gates and her journals in the background. If anyone would know where that treasure is she would."

"Would she write about it though?" Ellie asked.

"I believe so." I replied.

"Did you ancestor leave you anything or are we left in the blank till they find a clue of some kind?"

"All shining and silver, with a beautiful face, you look into me, and find this place." I recited the riddled my family was left with.

"So we're looking for a mirror?" Ellie asked, "Are we headed to Wonderland by any chance?"

"No, Wonderland was not discovered until the 1800's." I replied, "I don't know if we're looking for a mirror with a clue behind it or if there is an entrance that uses mirrors. He didn't leave us much to work with."

**Riley's POV**

**_Journal Entry One Hundred and Sixty Four_**

**_January 1, 2014_**

**_I had to do it. I couldn't let Jasper kill Kaelen. I am not proud of what I did or what I promised. Kaelen was so hurt…He's safe though. _**

I turned the page of the journal to find another entry explaining what happened and another poem.

**_Put your brave face on,_**

**_The one you wore_**

**_When you stole my heart._**

**_You'll be far away soon,_**

**_But you'll be here in my heart._**

**_You'll be miles and miles away_**

**_I'll miss you everyday._**

**_Ever since I met you, _**

**_There hasn't been a day_**

**_Where my heart_**

**_Was not touched in a way._**

**_When you're gone _**

**_And I wish you were here,_**

**_I'll think you that day _**

**_We fell in love at the pier._**

**_And I'll put my brave face on._**

**_I'll wear it till _**

**_You're back in my arms._**

**_So put your brave face on_**

**_I'm not going anywhere _**

**_After you're gone._**

**_I'll be here for you_**

**_Even when you're through._**

**_There isn't anyone _**

**_who could ever replace you._**


	14. Chapter 14: How to Save a Life

**AN: So here is the next chapter. I did add another poem of mine. It's going to be the last one, or at least for now. You'll find out why at the end of the chapter. This chapter is dedicated to Guin Parris, Always and a day Love, and Musical Cake. **

**_"Were I to invoke logic, however, logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." - Spock, Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan_**

**_"If a guy wants to see you, he'll call you. If he wants you, he'll go to any lengths to get you. And if he doesn't, then he's a jerk and you deserve better." - Me_**

**_The course of true love never did run smooth – William Shakespeare_**

**Chapter Fourteen: How to Save a Life**

**-Atlantic Ocean 1713-**

**Eva's POV**

"Kaelen, that is not funny!" I exclaimed at my fiancé trying to get my current journal back, "That journal is private."

"We are to be married, love. There should be no secrets." He replied, "I want to see what you write in here."

"It wouldn't be of any interest to you, to anyone really." I tried to persuade him not to read it. All of them had him in the majority of it.

"What do you write in these things anyway?" He asked, "I see you writing in these every free moment you have. I've never seen what's in them. Just one page and I'll give it back."

"One page?" I asked considering it.

He laughed, "Yes, love, just one."

"Alright." I conceded.

He flipped through the booklet and randomly picked a page.

"Every little thing I do

Trickles down

And lands on you

I've seen the rain

I've watched it fall

Reminds me

How I lost it all" He read aloud.

"What are you doing?" I asked him incredulously.

"Reading a very interesting poem." He replied cheekily and went back to reading aloud, "Every drop for day

I cried

Wishing he would stay

He didn't listen

He let me fall

I lost my heart

And kept myself behind

A tear-stained wall"

"Kalean, read in your head!" I exclaimed, "Not in front of the bloody crew!"

"Now Eva, you said I could read any page I would like and I am reading the page that I would like to read. You never said I couldn't read it out loud Now I would like to see what happens to this depressed maiden."

"Fine. Read it aloud." I retorted, and then muttered quietly so he couldn't hear me. "It's about you anyway." I rolled my eyes. He went back to reading.

"You were something

I never planned to do

The day we met

Came out of the blue

I turned around

And there was you

I see the rain

I like to watch it fall

From under a tree

Talking to you

About anything at all

Every little thing I do

Trickles down

And lands on you

You drive me crazy

You drive me mad

You're the best thing

I've ever had

I watch the rain

I've seen it fall

Thankful for the day

I thought I lost it all." He finished the poem, looking at me surprised. I took the journal out of his hands thoroughly pissed and went back to my galley. It may have been two months since the masque, but the galley was still mine.

Madeline saw the look on my face when I came in and said, "I'll leave you be."

"Sorry Madeline." I apologized.

"It's alright." She replied, "I could hear Kaelen's brogue from down here."

"Thanks." I told her. She gave me a small smile and left, closing the door on her way out.

The door opened and closed again.

"Galley's closed." I told whoever came in, hoping they would leave.

"It's a good thing I'm not here about the food then."

I looked up to see Kaelen leaning against the table with a book in his hands.

"I would rather not talk to you right now, Kalen." I told him angrily, "You embarrassed me in front of the whole bloody crew! What I write in my journals are private! If you really wanted to know, you could have bloody asked! They're mostly about you and this ship and everything that's happened in this past year. The poems are all about you. They started in September-"

"My drawings started in June." He told me looking down at the floor. At that moment all of my anger washed away.

"What?"

"I may not be much of a writer, love, but I can draw." He looked at the book in his hands, "And ever since June, all I've been able to draw is you." He came over to me, "I am truly sorry for reading the poem aloud. I shouldn't have. If it makes you feel any better, the crew really liked it. John wants to borrow it for his girl back in Tortuga." He saw the expression on my face, "Right, not the best way to go about this."

I shook my head.

"Once I realized it was about me, I regretted reading aloud. I am sorry, Eva. I can't promise you that I will not do something this foolish again; you and I both know that promise will never keep. But I promise, I will never read one of your journals aloud again. I should have stopped when you first questioned me about my actions. Please forgive me."

"I forgive you." I told him, "I'm still mad though."

"Try not to stay too mad for too long, love." He replied with a small smile, "Next port we pull into, you and I are to be wed."

He left, leaving the book of sketches behind. I picked up the book and looked through it. I didn't notice till much later he had pilfered my first journal.

The next people to come into my galley were John and Leopold. I laughed lightly at the sight of them, thinking Kaelen had threated them with something or other and they were coming in here asking for permission to hide. "Looking for a place to hide, gentlemen?" I asked raising an eyebrow at them. They shook their heads. I looked closer at them, they actually looked scared. "Alright, what's going on?"

"Fleet of Naval ships are after us." Leopold replied.

"After you, Miss." John corrected.

"Both of the Flynn's are trying to work out what to do-" Leopold started.

"We're gonna die." John cut him off.

"You're not going to die." I told him firmly, "I'll solve this."

I knew what I had to do or at least try to do. I had already thought of possibility that Jasper coming after me. It was one of those passing thoughts of being a possibility of my actions. None of those passing thoughts included an entire fleet. I ran out of the galley with Leopold and John on my heels.

And then I saw it.

"This is overdramatic even for a Howe." I commented deadpanned.

"Go back into the galley before anyone sees you." Kaelen ordered. I knew he was only worried about my safety, but this time it was unneeded.

"Kaelen." I shook my head. He looked down. We both knew what I had to convince Jasper of.

"Eva, there are other ways." He replied, "We're pirates, we could-"

"Killing people doesn't solve anything, it just makes them dead." I told him, looking out at the fleet. "The more you kill the more people are going to pursue us. If I can get Jasper to agree to leave you, Alexander, Madeline, and the rest of crew alone by going with him, then I have to do it. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or-"

"One." He finished, "I don't want you to do this. It's too risky. It's-"

"Boldness, without the rules of propriety, becomes insubordination." I quoted Confucius. He glared at me.

"You really want to go back with him?" He asked, the way he asked it

"I have to, Kaelen." I replied, "The odds are not in our favor."

I left him standing there, to go back to the galley one last time before I left. Madeline helped me change into the dress I wore when I had ran off with Kaelen. Leaving my current journal on the table, I headed back out.

Kaelen and Jasper were already in the beginnings of a heated argument.

"Give me one reason why I should not kill you right where you stand, Pirate." Jasper hissed at Kaelen.

"Jasper, leave the Flynn brothers and the rest of the crew be. They have shown nothing but kindness to me." I interjected, "Let them go, for me, as a wedding gift."

Jasper looked from him to me awestruck. Kaelen, on the other hand, looked at me flabbergasted and thoroughly pissed. Jasper happily agreed to my terms, giving Kaelen a smug look as he brushed passed him to me. As we left, I sent Kaelen a look of apology. It was the only logical plan that I knew would work.

**-Washington D.C. 2013-**

**Riley's POV**

When I turned the page, I found completely different hand writing than Eva's. It was messy, rushed and tiny.

**_It won't be today or tomorrow. I have to bide my time to make up a plan, but I will find her. I will find Eva. And he will die. Jasper Howe will wish he had never found her. Bloody smug bastard. _**

"Kaelen…" I realized who the handwriting had belonged to.

**AN2: So, Kaelen has the journal now. Flashback will be in his point of view now, I guess, well for a while. Anyone wanna know what he thinks of this whole mess? **


	15. Chapter 15: Not Broken

**AN: Hey everyone, very short chapter compared to the others, but it answers some questions about Kaelen, I think. **

**Dedicated to Musical cake, Guin Parris, and Always and a day Love. **

_**"You can't know what's in a person's heart unless you truly know them" - Once Upon a Time**_

_**"Love is friendship on fire." - The Perfect Man**_

_**"Don't say we aren't right for each other, the way I see it is... We aren't right for anyone else." -The Cutting Edge**_

_**"You will never know love unless you surrender to it." -Fools Rush In**_

_**"My heart is, and always will be, yours." – Sense and Sensibility**_

**Chapter Fifteen: Not Broken**

**_My dear Eva, _**

**_This is the last thing I will write in your journal, for it is yours and I am not in the practice of keeping them. I have read them, all of them, and there are some things I would like you to know. I saw many questions of my feelings for you throughout the different journals. So, I write this letter to you hoping you will be able to read it._**

**_I am only going to answer two of your questions. The first is how I came up with the name of Bernard. Bernard was the name of a man I served with in the Royal Navy. I was a privateer before I became a pirate. He saved my life. You may have not liked the name when I gave it to you, but it did mean a great deal to me that you came to like it and see the name as a part of you. _**

**_The second question I would like to address is what I said to you after you first confessed your feelings to me. I am fully aware you do not speak Irish or Gaelic, which is why It matters not why I say things in my native tongue, but you did overly imply that you would like to know what my response was in English. I do not remember a good part of that night, but I do remember the conversation we had before you threw me out of the galley. I told you that my life changed as well when I met you and that it was not that I wasn't interested in you. You were very wrong when you assumed that answer of me. It was that I knew you deserved better. _**

**_Time won't ever steal my soul. I will never admit this aloud or in English, but you are everything I never wanted and everything I need. Although, I've never stated it in English, I do love you. You were right when you stated several times in the journal that I was not too fond of you. I was not fond of you at first. As we got to know each other, I found myself, against all of my better judgment and logic, falling in love with you. And don't know when I started to, but I did. _**

**_I will always find you Eva. You never have to worry about that, no matter what foolish thing you do. I shall see you soon._**

**_Kaelen_**

**_P.S. Lao Tzu once said, being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. I love you. _**

**-Atlantic Ocean 1714-**

**Kaelen's POV**

"Ná tús fiú, Kaelen. Nach bhfuil muid ag dul i ndiaidh di." Alexander said to me before I could even ask. _(English: Don't even start, Kaelen. We are not going after her.)_ He kept it in Irish because we were in front of the crew. "Táimid ag dul ar ais go dtí Hornigold. Tá muid imithe cheana féin le haghaidh ró-fhada. Ár teagmháil leis an Commodore leagtha inné ar ais chugainn." _(English: We've already been gone for too long. Our encounter with the Commodore yesterday set us back.)_

It was times like these where I could not believe I was related to Alexander. I glared at him, "Cad a tharlaíonn má bhí sé Madeline ionad Eva? Ar mhaith leat dul tar éis di nó ar mhaith leat a fhágáil go bás, b'fhéidir? Toisc a fhios agat agus mé uair amháin na figiúirí Commodore amach Chuaigh sí toilteanach ní bheidh sí go mbeadh deis, go háirithe má phósann sé í roimh láimh." _(English: What if it was Madeline instead of Eva? Would you go after her or would you leave her to possibly die? Because you and I know once the Commodore figures out she went willingly she won't have a chance, especially if he marries her beforehand.)_

"Níos tábhachtaí ná na riachtanais an leor na riachtanais de na cúpla. Ní mór dúinn a choinneáil ar an ar an gcód." Alexander stated. _(English:_ _The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. We have to keep the to the code.)_

"Ifreann fuilteacha! Scriú an cód!" I yelled at him. That got the attention of the crew. _(English: Bloody hell! Screw the code!)_

Alexander sighed, "No, Kaelen. I am still captain of this ship and we're not going after her. She's just a girl, a nice girl, but still you'll find someone else. She isn't the first girl you've romanced, and there are other fish in the sea."

"That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard." I told him deadpanned, "You're my brother and I love you, but you got to be the worst advice-giver I know. I mean, not only is your advice terrible, but it just backfires at every turn! And now you're talking to me about fish, Eva is a woman! I mean, she's an amazing woman. And she's just so beautiful, and she's loving and... It was all right there. And I lost it. And I don't need you telling me that I should go out and find someone else. We're going back to the Caribbean and finding her, Alexander. I may not be able to pull rank as a higher officer, but I can pull rank as your older brother." I retorted, "**_We are finding her_**."

Alexander looked at me shocked and a little scared, but nodded.


	16. Chapter 16: Speak Now

**AN: Okay this is the last chapter that has Kaelen's POV in it. It's also on the shorter side. The next one will probably be longer. Don't expect the next chapter for another week or two. This week is my birthday and I'm gonna be pretty busy all week. **

**The actual treasure for the story should be coming up soon in the chapters. The journals have to show the treasure and clues first and I haven't gotten to that part yet. We're in 1714 for the flashbacks, the treasure is around 1716 or 1717. I'll probably do a time jump after I marry off Kaelen and Eva.**

**Also in good National Treasure fashion, there's gonna be another mysterious person after the treasure other than Ian and his men and Ben and the good guys. Is this person bad? Are they good? I won't tell you, just that they're smart. **

**This chapter is dedicated to DarkMoon010, Guin Parris, and Always and a day Love.**

_**'In the face of true love, you don't just give up.' - Gossip Girl**_

_**Love is a game that two can play and both win. - Eva Gabor**_

_**"True love is taking the risk that it won't be a happily-ever-after. True love is joining hands with the man who loves you for who you are, and saying, "I'm not afraid to believe in you." ― Cara Lockwood, I Do (But I Don't)**_

**Chapter Sixteen: Speak Now **

**_-_****Caribbean 1714-**

When we arrived, everyone who was going ashore was shaven and in the sailors uniforms that were left aboard the ship when Eva and I had taken it. The rest of the crew was to stay below deck until we have left the port. I had sent John and Tad ahead to get the scuttlebutt of the town. We needed to see what we were heading in to. If anyone asked us questions, we would know how to answer.

"Bones!" John called to get my attention, "We got it."

"Cad ar leathcheann…" I muttered, rolling my eyes, not even bothering to correct him again. "What have you got?" _(English: What an idiot…)_

"Eva hasn't married the Commodore yet. The wedding is tonight. So we have to move fast." John replied.

"According to the scuttlebutt around town, she's practically being forced down the aisle-" Tad started.

"Do you know where she lives and where the church is or not?" I asked them annoyed. I only wanted to know three things: is she married, where she lived, and where the bloody church is if she isn't.

"Yes!" Tad squeaked out, and then quickly told me the address. I nodded and turned to Alexander, who was at the helm fumbling with his damn uniform. It had been a long while since he had worn one.

"Alexander, I'll be back soon and then we have a wedding crash." I told him. He nodded. It was practically an unspoken agreement between us that until Eva was back on the ship, I was in charge. Alexander wouldn't do anything against it, he was too scared to.

I made sure her current journal was in my inner jacket pocket and then I headed to address that Tad had given me to give her back the journal.

**-Washington D.C. 2013-**

**Riley's POV**

When I turned the page I found the broad, wide, right slanted and ascending, with deep garlands and widely spaced letters, even spaced, and heavy pressured handwriting I had grown accustom to in the other journals. It appeared Kaelen had found Eva.

**_January 15, 1714_**

**_Alright, Kaelen…I trust you, but I hope you have a plan because it will not end well for either of us if you do not. I will see you soon. Married or not, depends on your planning; either way I will be in a wedding dress when I see you…_**

**-Caribbean 1714-**

**Eva's POV**

I closed the journal and put it in my handbag. I sighed, looking in the mirror across the hall. I was standing in the church in a stunning Parisian gown. I had almost forgotten how wealthy the Gates family was. The Gates and the Howes were the two most prominent families in the port of Kingston, Jamaica.

"They're ready for you, Miss." One of the maids came out. I nodded and thanked her. She left.

I looked up and sighed, "Kaelen, wherever you are, you better have a better plan than running in at 'speak now or forever hold your peace'."

**AN2: So what do you guys think his plan is? **


	17. Chapter 17: Gut the Groom

**AN: So I decided to give you guys this chapter a little early. My birthday is tomorrow and I'm busy over the weekend so don't expect anything till next week. I was in a really good mood, so I decided to put this up. I also decided to bring in another few characters because I missed them and had an ingenious idea which I hinted at in the last authors note. So here is the chapter. I hope you guys like it.**

**This chapter is dedicated to Black Dragon 42, televisionluver Guin Parris, and Always and a day Love. **

**Happy reading everyone and happy early birthday to me!**

_**"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together." – Marilyn Monroe**_

_**"True love is the best thing in the world, except for cough drops." ― William Goldman, The Princess Bride**_

_**" ... But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep."  
Robert Frost**_

**Chapter Seventeen: Gut the Groom**

Jasper and I stood in front of the priest.

"Marriage," He began with a heavy lisp, making all of his r's sound like w's, "Marriage is what brings us together today. Marriage that blessed arrangement, which dream within a dream…"

"Stand your ground men!" We heard soldiers in the background. We all looked back at where the noise originated. No one was coming through the doors so the priest continued.

"So treasure your loved one,"

"Could you please skip to the end?" Jasper interrupted.

"I'd like to hear the rest of his speech." I countered, trying to buy Kaelen more time.

"You were at your sister's wedding you've heard it before." He replied, not really caring what I thought or not. He looked to the priest, "Could you please go to the end?"

"Do you have the ring?" The priest asked. Jasper slipped the ring on my finger wordlessly. "Do you Commodore Jasper Howe take Eva Gates to be your wife?"

"I do." Jasper replied simply.

"Do you Eva Gates take-"

"She does." Jasper answered for me, "Say man and wife."

Before I could object, the priest said, "I have to hear-"

"Man and wife." Jasper cut him off.

"Man and wife." The priest repeated scared.

"Escort her to my home." Jasper told one of his soldiers.

As the soldier escorted me out of the church, I couldn't tell what I was more shocked by. The fact that that was the fastest paced wedding I had ever seen or the fact that Kaelen didn't come. Neither made any sense. If the wedding was too fast paced for me even to say 'I do' for myself, then am I actually married? And Kaelen, Kaelen said he would come, although he never did specify when. I stared at the ground, trying to figure out this whole debacle and a way out of it.

Suddenly, I heard a painful grunt next to me. I looked to where the solider was at, in his place was Kaelen.

"Kaelen." I smiled, hugging him. I had never been so happy to see another person in my life. He hugged me back quickly, before he let go, taking me by the hand and pulling me into the alleyway. Before he could say anything, I told him, "Kaelen, I think I'm married…"

"What do you mean you think you're married?" He asked confused, "Marriage is one of those things where you know you are or not."

"I don't know." I replied, "I didn't get to say 'I do' for myself. Jasper said it for me and made the priest say 'man and wife' before I could say anything. I don't like the phrase 'man and wife' it's sort of demeaning towards the woman, it makes her sound the lesser of the two, when-"

"They should be equal partners." Kaelen finished, "Yes, you've told me. Unfortunately that is not the way this world of yours works, or any other for that matter." He replied and then added before I could object, "Not saying that is not the way we work...We have more pressing matters however." He looked up. I looked at him confused and then looked up. Upon the rooftop was Tad and John. Kaelen looked down at me, "Trust me, love?"

"Yes?" I replied. Kaelen smiled and then nodded at the two.

"Hold on to me tightly." He instructed as he picked me up. I was a great deal smaller than he was, so it worked. I clung on to him. He stepped back on to a wheeled platform.

Those two imbeciles dropped an enormous rock on to the other side of the platform sending the two of us into the air. Kaelen, with one hand, grabbed the rope they had swinging off the roof and swung us on to it.

"A little warning next time?" I asked.

Kaelen laughed and nodded. He looked to Tad and John, "You mind taking her to the ship? I have something to do."

"I am right here, you know!" I told him, trying not to yell so we wouldn't get caught, "You could-"

"Do you mind them taking you?" Kaelen asked.

"No, but that isn't the point." I replied.

"And we can talk about it later." Kaelen retorted, "Right now, I've gotta go gut the groom."

Before I could say a word, he left, jumping onto the next roof.

"Ready to go Miss Eva?" Tad asked.

I nodded, "Yes, there's just one thing I have to do first. Do either of you have a dagger?"

They looked at me confused, but John handed me one anyway.

"What do you need the dagger for Miss?" Tad asked.

"To shorten the dress so it's easier to move around in." I replied. It was only Tad and John. John had a girl and Tad was too bashful to make a move on a girl, and both were too afraid of Kaelen to even think of going near me in that way. I cut the fabric of the actual dress to my knees. With a little help from the boys, I got the under skirt off. We picked up the fabric and the skirt and ran. Before we reached the ship with threw the cut off remains into the sea.

**-Washington D.C. 2013-**

**Riley's POV**

**_When Kaelen came back to the ship, he was bloodied and sore, but he had gotten rid of Jasper Howe. We would not see him again… _**

_'She was innocent. She didn't kill anyone. Kaelen did and I kind of don't blame him for it.'_ I thought as I read the rest of the journal entry.

**Sadusky's POV**

"Is she sure she wants to do this?" I asked Detective John Raleigh.

John nodded, "She's sure and she has all of the means to do this. It would be an easier way of catching Howe and his men in one swoop if we go through with this."

"As long as it's all planned out, she may go through with this idea of hers." I consented, knowing that she would go stir crazy if I hadn't, "Make sure she stays hidden and doesn't personally talk to anyone."

John nodded, "Of course."

**John's POV**

I left to tell Emily, Tess, and Bianca the good news.

"So, did Sadusky agree?" Bianca asked excitedly, "Can I do it?"

"Yes, but you have to remain hidden and not talk to anyone." I answered.

"Were those his exact words?" Bianca asked. I could see the wheels turning in her head.

"I don't like that look." Tess commented. Bianca smiled, not paying attention, consumed in her plans. "I really don't like that look."

"Whatcha scheming, sheila?" I asked her smirking. I had always liked her plans. She snapped out of her thoughts.

"Well ever since I've known Riley, he has always made the remark of why couldn't they just say, 'go to this place, and here is the treasure; spend it wisely'. Why don't we give them that in a sense? We find the clues, decipher them and give them the place of the next clue. We could do that all the way to the treasure-"

"How would we do that?" Tess asked her.

"We have a pretty good team here: an agent, a detective, a psychologist, and a professor of linguistics. We also have government technology accessible to us. If we cannot solve this with all of the assets we have, no one can." Bianca replied confidently, "Mom, you said you had copies of the journal entries that included the treasure and the clue to the first one." Emily nodded and gave her the copies. I guess she was still getting over the shock of how Bianca basically orchestrated the allusion of her own death. Tess and I were not shocked she was alive. Tess had to give her blood.

Bianca thanked Emily, looked through the copies, and then handed Tess and I pieces of paper. "These are descriptions of the treasure and its location. Because there are approximately 180,497 islands in the world, we don't know exactly where it is located, only that it is on an island. If Eva Flynn had lived long enough, I am sure she would have written where the treasure was, but she and Kaelen were killed before their time."

"Then how-" Tess started to ask.

"According to the journal, their eldest daughter Alice was there when they were killed. She knew where the treasure was and how to get there. Kaelen, according to the journal, had been teaching her cartography. If I had to make a guess, the clues exist because Alice and her sisters, Violet and Annabeth…I think those were their names… They wanted them to exist."

"What's the first clue?" Emily finally spoke up.

"I can't read it." Bianca replied, "It's in Gaelic or something." She handed it to Emily.

"**_'Chun teacht ar an taisce a lorg agat, an chéad ní mór duit teacht ar an cloch go endows tú an bronntanas a labhairt.'_**" Emily read aloud and then translated, "It's written in Irish. If I had to guess, Kaelen wrote the first clue and that's how he would of passed it along to the family. Eva would have described the places and what they held. The first clue in English reads, _'To find the treasure which you seek, first you must find the stone that endows you the gift to speak.'_"

"Well it's written in Irish, so that should be taken into account because that could be a clue with in itself because why would he take the time to write it in Irish when he could write it in English? He was fluent in both languages." Bianca thought aloud, "Now assuming, even though logically one should never assume, but that's neither here nor there-"

"You're going off on a tangent, Bianca." Tess rolled her eyes.

"There is only one stone famous for endowing a person with the gift of gab and that is the Blarney Stone."

**AN2: I decided to bring Bianca back in earlier than I thought I would. I missed her and thought of a way to have fun with the story. Hopefully it'll turn out alright. **


	18. Chapter 18: Shiver My Timbers

**AN: Hey so, this chapter is out a little sooner than I expected it would be, but I hope you like it. It's not very long, but it's covers some bases for the treasure, which is going to become more prominent as we go. We're also gonna see a bit more of Bianca as well. After Riley and Ben get the first clue, Ian will be showing up more in the story as well. **

**This chapter is dedicated to Musical Cake, Guin Parris, and Always and a day Love. **

**Happy reading and I hope you like the chapter.**

_**"Never poke a sleeping bear. The more you poke at him, the more likely you are to waking him. When he wakes, he'll be angry and will eat you. And when he does, you'll have no one to blame but yourself." - Me**_

_**One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire Cat. "Which road do I take?," she asked. "Where do you want to go?," was his response. "I don't know," answered Alice. "Then," said the cat, "it doesn't matter." – Alice's Adventures in Wonderland**_

**_"Close your eyes and pretend it's all a bad dream. That's how I get by." - Jack Sparrow_**

**Chapter Eighteen: Shiver My Timbers**

**Riley's POV**

"Have you found anything yet, Riley?" Ben asked as I came through the door of his dad's house with Zach.

"I'll switch you the last few journals for the little guy." Patrick said as he came into the foyer.

"Thanks." I handed him Zach and took the journals. They went into the library. "Patrick, try to stay away from Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and other books like that. He's not too fond of them like…" I paused.

Patrick nodded, getting what I was trying to say, "I'll find a couple of Jules Verne books. I'm trying to stay away from the fairytales; I can't quite tell them the way _she_ did."

"Jules Verne is great. If you have Around the World in 80 Days, I think he would like that." I smiled lightly, avoiding the subject of Bianca's death. Patrick, Ben, and Abigail had already accepted that she was dead. I hadn't yet, I knew she was gone. I couldn't accept that she was dead. I would have felt the loss, wouldn't I? Wouldn't I have felt something missing? I still felt connected to her. I didn't have to worry about Carissa as much now; I hacked into Ian's cameras. Shippen and Phil were taking care of her. She hadn't had much contact with Ian.

"I believe I have it. If I don't, I read Journey to the Center of the Earth to him."

"He would like that." I replied, nodding. Patrick nodded and left. I looked to Ben, "So far I've found she didn't kill anyone. Kaelen killed Jasper Howe. Blackbeard killed Kaelen's brother, so his spirit would guard his treasure. They're upset, but too afraid of Blackbeard to do anything."

"So the treasure is real?" Ben asked.

"It is, according to Eva." I replied.

"Any idea what it is?"

"Not really, gold and jewels and stuff. It doesn't sound very big." I replied from what I've heard about the treasure from the later journals. I hadn't gotten to read much about the treasure though yet. Blackbeard was still alive and in charge of the treasure and the rest of the pirates because Hornigold had retired and the pirates feared Blackbeard.

"That doesn't make sense. Why would he want it if it's small?"

"Revenge?" I guessed sarcastically, rolling my eyes, "It's safe to say after what happened with the last treasure, he's not too fond of you."

"I know that, Riley." He retorted, "But why would he harp on the treasure if he just wants revenge? There are other ways."

"I'd rather him go about it this way!" I retorted, "At least this way, I know my daughter's still alive and I will have her back after we find this. He has no interest in her, he's already said that. Since Bianca is gone and he has no interest in me, when he has that treasure, I will have Carissa. So forgive me, if I don't care to ask why Ian wants what he wants, I don't want to figure him out. Bianca already went down that road, she had him so sorted out she was ten steps ahead of him every move he made. Carissa is the only thing that I have left that reminds me exactly of her in almost every way. I don't want to waste time by wondering what Ian wants. I don't think we should spend our time focusing on him. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy on him."

**Bianca's POV**

**-Ireland-**

"This place is so beautiful!" I exclaimed looking out the window of the private car.

"It would be even prettier if it stopped raining." John replied not as impressed.

"I love the rain." I replied, and then asked the driver, "How far are we from the Castle?"

"There la." He answered gesturing to his side of the window.

I looked to where he was pointing, "It's beautiful."

"Tá tú féin cailín deas, rabhadh a thabhairt liom tú anois, nach póg an cloch." He said to me.

I nodded, I had been studying Irish for a couple of days, and I got bits of what he said. I would ask mom about it later. "Raibh maith agat."

He pulled up to the entrance. We got out and he drove off after saying that when we're done we just need to call him and he'll pick us back up.

"What did the driver say?" I asked mom.

"You're a nice girl. I'll warn you now, don't kiss the stone…Give or take a couple of words." She replied.

"Good to know." I replied, "So how are we doing this?"

"I don't know where we would start." Tess replied.

"I vote we split up." John suggested, "Bianca and I will go up to the stone, the dungeons, and search the castle. Emily, Tess, you both check the gardens, the Witch Stone, the Wishing Steps, Rock Close, and the Witch's Kitchen. We'll meet up to check the Badger's Cave."

They nodded and we split up.

**Riley's POV**

**_Journal One Thousand and Eight Four_**

**_March 9, 1718_**

**_Alice had turned four today. She is getting more and more like Kaelen every day. She has his hair and his eyes. She has his spirit. She is very much her father's daughter, yet an angel all the same. She keeps asking why Alexander is not with us. We have not the heart to explain it to her. She's only a little girl. We've merely told her so far that he has an obligation that he has to attend to. _**

**_Kaelen does not like her asking about Alexander. He was upset. Madeline and I were bothered by it as well. Madeline had left the ship at the last port due to grief. He wanted to avenge Alexander. None of us were willing to die for the cause of revenge. Kaelen and I have Alice. We can't risk our lives to fight Blackbeard, we would die. We could not do that to poor little Alice…_**

**-Caribbean 1718-**

**Eva's POV**

"Good night, sweet angel." I tucked Alice in, and kissed her goodnight.

"Night, mum…" She yawned.

Kaelen kissed her head, "Night Lissie."

"Night, Da…" She replied tiredly before falling asleep. We blew out the oil lamp by her bed and made our way up the stairs.

When we got to our cabin, Kaelen sat down on the corner of the bed and sighed. Alice had been asking questions all day about Alexander. Blackbeard had killed him a couple of weeks ago.

"I know you want to avenge Alexander, Kaelen, I do as well, but we have to think about Alice." I kneeled down to meet his level. "We can't let her grow up without either one of us being there."

"There must be another way around this. He was murdered in cold blood for treasure." Kaelen looked up to meet my eyes, "Alexander was the last person who deserved that. Why him? Why Alexander? He was only seventeen years old. He was just a kid."

"Then we'll take the treasure. If Alexander's soul stayed behind to guard Blackbeard's chest, he would let us have it. He adored you; there would be no reason for him not to. Let's bide our time and make a plan, something that we both know will be flawless and have no chance of failing; something that will show him that he is gravely missed and completely adored." I suggested to my husband.

He nodded, "We'll start planning tomorrow."


	19. Chapter 19: Shine Your Way

**AN: I think I'm just gonna stop putting times on these things cause it seems I never follow them. I added a little surprise at the end. I don't own the song lyrics in this chapter. The song is from The Croods, it's called "Shine Your Way". The movie and song are cute, so I decided to hint at it in here. I tried to pick parts of the song that fit them, that they would pick for themselves. **

**This chapter is dedicated to Musical Cake, Always and a day Love, and Guin Parris. **

**Happy reading. I hope you all enjoy the chapter!**

**_"If you love them and they love you, they will always find you." - Mary Margret, Once Upon a Time_**

**Chapter Nineteen: Shine Your Way**

**-Ireland 2013-**

**Bianca's POV**

_'Any time, anywhere, _

_Turn around and I'll be there, _

_To shine, shine your way _

_Like a star burning bright, _

_Lighting up the darkest night, _

_I'll shine, shine your way…'_ My cell rang. It wasn't as nice as my old one or have as many gadgets, but it worked well enough and I hopefully could have Riley play with it after all of this is done. My ringtone was a song from a movie Riley and I had taken Carissa to a few months ago. I had the whole song on my phone along with Beauty and the Beast, Peaches by New Heights and a few others. I answered the phone, "What's up?"

**_"We've just finished."_** Mom told me, **_"We've got nothing. Have you both found anything?"_**

"Nothing, we've just left the dungeons." I replied, "Meet us at the cave. We'll try there."

**_"Alright."_** She hung up. I put my phone back in my pocket.

"They haven't found anything either." I told John, "I'm gonna call one of the strategists at the FBI."

He raised an eyebrow, "You're not allowed to personally talk to anyone."

"I'm not going to talk to anyone in person. I'm going to call them." I replied, using my loophole.

John laughed, "Fine. Just keep it short and meet the rest of us at the caves, when you're done."

"Got it." I replied. John left.

**-Caribbean 1718-**

**Eva's POV**

"How do you want to go about this?" I asked pulling out a world map, "Do you want to leave a map with many clues in place, clues in many places with no map, one clue to one place with the treasure-"

"Alexander liked riddles. There should be a clue leading to a map that marks out each destination in order with a riddle in each place that it marks. It would lead to the last riddle where there would be another riddle with the location of another map, that map would to the treasure, but that wouldn't be an actual map, it would be a parchment of riddles. Small riddles on which way to go, what markings to look for…The key wouldn't be a key, it would be something you keep close to your heart, something that would be conspicuous that wouldn't make sense as a key." Kaelen said thinking aloud, looking at the map. "We'd have to build the room, but the rest of it should be easy to plant."

"Where do you want to start?"

"Badger's Cave, Blarney Castle, Cork, Ireland." Kaelen replied, marking a place on the map with the quill.

"Ireland?" I asked in surprise.

"Back home." He replied, "Or at least it was before we enlisted."

**-Ireland 2013-**

**Bianca's POV**

I dialed the number I needed. He didn't pick up. It's a private number that's understandable. I kept trying.

**-Washington D.C. 2013-**

_"Now I can see, _

_You are the one, _

_Sent here to show me the way _

_All of your tears will dry faster in the sun, _

_Starting today, _

_Shine, shine, shine, _

_We're on our way, _

_Shine, shine, shine, _

_That's what we say, _

_Shine, shine, shine, _

_Shine your way…"_ My phone rang. I had changed at to a song that was in a movie I had seen in theaters with Carissa and Bianca. I looked at the number, it was a private number. I disconnected it and continued reading. It rang again. I disconnected it. After the third time, I picked up.

"Hello?" I answered.

**_"You will do as I say. Don't say a word. Make some excuse and go somewhere where you're not going to be heard by anyone. And whatever you do, do not, at any time, say who I am."_** I was instructed. Ben looked at me strangely.

"I have to take this." I told him, "I'll be back in a bit."

I went outside and tried to find somewhere quite.

"I don't know whether to be angry with you or ecstatic to hear your voice." I told her, "How did you-"

**_"Survive? I have no idea. Apparently my sister had something to do with it, no matter how much I want to not believe it."_** She answered, **_"I didn't call to talk about that and we'll discuss it later."_**

"That's not fair. I know what later means with you." I replied. "I have a right to know."

**_"And we'll discuss it later. I have a question for you about treasure."_**

"What?" I was shocked. "You want to ask about treasure? Not about the fact that our daughter is missing or how our son and I are doing, but about treasure?" I asked incredulously, and then it made sense. Bianca was always ten steps ahead of Ian. "What's going on in that head of yours?" I asked trying to understand her. We had been married five years and I still don't understand her.

**_"Did Ian call you or Ben?"_** She asked quickly.

"Ben." I answered.

**_"Good, I was right. That means your phone is fine. Carissa's alright. She's being taken care of. I've got it handled."_**

I looked to see if there was anyone around, there wasn't anyone coming. "Shippen and Phil, they-

**_"Work for our department. It's an under the table deal."_** She finished what I was about to say, **_"As for you and Zach…You're stress and frustrated. Your tone-"_**

"Don't do the Sherlock thing you do. I'm not in the mood. I'm still pissed with you." I replied, "I'm the only one who didn't think you were dead, but that doesn't mean that I didn't have problems with it."

**_"I know. I heard you at my grave a couple of weeks after the funeral."_** She replied, **_"I wanted to tell you then, but I'm not allowed to talk to anyone in person."_**

"You're talking to me now." I replied blankly.

**_"On the phone."_** She pointed out, **_"We're not technically talking in person face to face."_**

"Sadusky's gonna nail your ass for this." I replied, "He doesn't like it when you go around the rules."

**_"No, but Sherlock needed to talk to Dr. Watson."_** She replied.

"Are those supposed to be our code names?" I asked, holding back a laugh.

**_"Would you prefer Spock and McCoy?"_** She answered with a question.

"Why are they both male characters?" I asked her.

**_"I'm going personality based, not gender. I thought Beauty and the Techie would give it away."_**

This time I smiled, letting out a laugh. "And the 'mission' you're on what's it called? 'Operation Cobra'?" I asked, taking a name from most recent favorite show, Once Upon a Time. The only reason I knew it was because she and Carissa watched it every Sunday when it was on. They had seasons 1 and 2 already.

**_"Actually I hadn't named it, but I like that. Captures the objective pretty well."_** She replied, **_"Now that question I had for you about the treasure. If you hid a message somewhere, like in a cave for example, where would you hide it?"_**

"I don't know, I would have carved out a whole or something and put it behind that and sealed it probably. It depends on how big it was. Could have buried it in the cave possibly…" I replied and then changed the subject back to the topic of names, "What about Bones and Padame?"

**_"You're crossing the Star Trek and Star Wars universes." _**

"So, I'm more of a Bones than an Anakin and Padame, if any character that's female could fit you personality-wise would be her."

**_"Alright Padame and Bones it is. I hope we don't get attacked by trekkies and Star Wars junkies in the process." _**She joked, **_"Now you'd either hide the thing behind something in the walls of the cave or bury it? Would you leave any markings?"_**

"Yeah. Probably."

**_"Like what?"_**

"I don't know, Padame!" I replied, might as well use the codenames, "Probably a drawing or symbol or something. Something that would only make sense to me and anyone close to me."

**_"Okay, thanks!" _**She replied, "**_Love you, Bones."_**

"I know."

**_"I'm sorry for how this worked out."_**

"We'll talk about it later." I replied, and then said in Vulcan. "Wani ra yana ro aisha."

_(English translation from Vulcan:_ _I love you)_

**_"I love it when you speak nerdy to me. I'll try to be in touch soon. Wani ra yana ro aisha."_** She hung up. I put my phone back into my pocket and went back to Patrick's.

When I got back into the attic, I slid down against the wall and shook my head, "What is going on in that head yours?" I thought aloud as more of a question to Bianca, who obviously couldn't hear me, than to myself.


	20. Chapter 20: Into Darkness

**AN: Sorry for the wait, I've been really busy. I wanted to get this chapter out before I leave on a trip for the rest of the week.**

**This chapter is dedicated to Guin Parris, Musical Cake, Always and a day Love, gossamermouse101 and SimplyKelly. **

**I hope you like the chapter. **

**Happy reading.**

_**He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future.. – George Orwell**_

_**Thinking is easy, acting is difficult – and to put one's thoughts into action, the most difficult thing in the world. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe**_

**Chapter Twenty: Into Darkness**

**-Ireland 2013-**

**Bianca's POV**

"We're looking for a symbol on the ground or on the wall. After we find it, John, you call Sadusky. See if we can legally sort out cutting into here." I told them.

"Are you sure you want get the embassy involved?" John asked.

"Yes." I replied, "I'm not having the police chase after me this time."

"What type of sign are we searching for?" Tess asked, by the look on her face she seemed to agree with not having the police chase after us.

"Not sure… Possibly a word in Irish or Gaelic… or some type of imprinted or painted symbol..." I replied.

"We better start looking then." Tess replied.

**-Ireland 1719-**

**Eva's POV**

"Are you sure you want to hide there?" I asked as we headed to the cave.

"Did I finally find something that scares you?" Kaelen smirked.

"No, I'm just concerned that no one will ever be able to find it." I replied.

"Isn't that the point of stealing it and hiding it?"

"What if our descendants want to find it?"

"Alice is too young for us to even consider thinking about that." Kaelen replied, not wanting to think about it.

"She's going to grow up eventually…" I looked to him, "Alright, let's look at this another way, what if something happens to us and she needs to be able to find it?"

"Nothing will happen to us."

"We're not invincible, Kaelen." I sighed, "We're going to die someday, and with our profession, it most likely will be sooner than later. We should have some way for her, and any other children we do have, to find it."

Kaelen took out his dagger and started carving at the back wall. He took out the part of the wall he carved out and put the map inside. He put the part of the wall he took out back. "Let me see your necklace, love." I took off the necklace and handed it to him and with one hand he held the necklace and the other he carved the front design into the stone he had carved out.

**-Ireland 2013-**

"Hey Bi, we found something on the back wall." Tess called from where she and mom were at.

"Okay, I'll be there in a bit." I replied, and then looked to John, who had just got off the phone, "What have you got?"

"We made a deal. The Irish people get 5% of what we find. And you, my friend are going to make a large donation to Blarney Castle after you 'come back to life'." John replied.

I sighed, "Well that's better than nothing."

We went to the back of the cave.

"Let me see your locket. I think it has the same design as the symbol here." Tess said, looking at the wall.

"I don't have it, Tess." I told her without hesitation.

"What?" She questioned.

"I don't have it." I reiterated.

"Where is it?" She asked incredulously.

"I gave it to Carissa." I replied.

"Why?" She asked annoyed.

"It was my good luck charm growing up; I thought it would bring her luck." I replied nonchalantly. I was around her age when I got it. I wanted to give it to her before I left. Tess didn't look too happy with me. I shook my head and looked at the symbol. "The symbol's the same on the stone by the way."

I ignored what Tess said as John pulled out the stone and the map that was behind it.

"What are we going to do about the stone?" Mom asked. I knew what she was getting at if Ian saw the symbol, it could harm Carissa.

"We take it and the map with us and leave them a clue of where to go next." I replied, "What's the next place?"

"The 'x' is on Italy. The message reads, _'My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep; the more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite.'_"

"Romeo and Juliet, which takes place in Verona, Italy." I stated, "The Casa di Giulietta is in Verona. It dates back to the 13th century…Alexander really liked Romeo and Juliet, the clue would most likely be there." I thought about it, "John, do you have a knife on you?"

He raised an eyebrow, but gave me his knife. I read the quote from Romeo and Juliet again and then carved it into the area where the stone was at. I gave John his knife back and he put it and the stone in his bag.

"You guys go ahead, we're going to check in with Sadusky and tell him where we're headed and what we did here. Just routine work." John told them. They nodded and left. After a couple of minutes, John looked to me and said, "You go outside and call Riley, tell him where to start we'll leave clues as we go for them. Don't tell him about the map; just tell him where to find the first clue."

I nodded and went outside and called Riley.

"Hello?" Riley answered.

"Hi Bones." I smiled.

"Let me go outside." He said, he told Ben and my dad that he had to take a call. **_"Hey Padame." _**I could tell he was smiling by his tone.

"I'm guessing you're not so mad anymore?"

**_"Oh, I'm still mad, I'm just happy to hear from you."_** He replied, **_"What's up?"_**

"I'm not allowed to tell you much, but you might want to head to Blarney Castle in Cork, Ireland."

**_"You're going after-" _**

"Yes, Bones, and the first clue is in Badger's Cave." I replied, "I left you a clue for the next destination."

**_"Great, we'll head there as soon as we can."_**

"Give me a head start, would ya?" I asked.

**_"I'll tell them I figured out the clue tomorrow. That should give you at least a 24hr head start."_**

"Thank you." I smiled.

**_"Wani ra yana ro aisha, Padame." _**

"Wani ra yana ro aisha, Bones." I hung up. I went back into the cave, John was already off the phone with Sadusky. "Ready to go?"

He nodded.

"Verona here we come." I smiled.

"So nice of you to warn them, Bianca." He laughed. I gave him a mock glare. We headed off to the entrance.


	21. Chapter 21: Letters to Juliet

**AN: So, I hope everyone's doing well. I actually finished this chapter in two days. It took a while for me to figure out where the next place for a clue, which I cannot wait to write. You're not going to see the next clue until chapter after next, I think. I think you'll see where I'm going with the next chapter by the end of this one. **

**In other news, I was thinking about a possible sequel to this one. It would be the last story. Unless you want this one to be the last one and think four is too much, which is cool, if you guys feel that way. I will talk more about it at the end of this story. I just thought I'd put the idea out there.**

**This chapter is dedicated to Guin Parris, Musical Cake, Always and a day Love. **

**I hope everyone likes the chapter. **

**Happy reading.**

_**"You only need the courage to follow your heart." - Letters to Juliet**_

_**The life which is unexamined is not worth living. – Plato**_

_**Life is so constructed that an event does not, cannot, will not, match the expectation. – Charlotte Brontë**_

**Chapter Twenty One: Letters to Juliet**

"Alright if you were Eva and Kaelen, where would you hide the next clue?" Tess asked the rest of us.

"Well hindsight is 20/20, knowing what I know now about the Casa di Giulietta, I would have hid the clue in the wall because of all of the letters that are shoved into it every day." I surmised, "But that wasn't really done in the 1700's. I don't really think it got popular til around the 40's to write letters to Juliet."

"Still the wall is a good place to check-" John started.

"If it were in the wall, someone would have found it." Tess argued, "People do collect this letters and reply to the writers."

"Then you and Emily talk to the secretaries of Juliet, we'll search the wall." John replied. Mom and Tess nodded and went off to find the secretaries.

"John, I really don't think it'll be in the wall." I told him.

"You never know if you don't look." John replied, "You start on one side, I'll start on the other, and we'll meet in the middle."

I nodded and went to the other side of the wall.

**-Verona 1719-**

**Eva's POV**

"You want to put it where?" Kaelen asked disbelievingly.

"In the wall." I reiterated.

"Why?" Kaelen asked not getting my logic.

"The best place to hide something is in plain sight because it is the last place someone would ever think to look to find it."

He sighed, "They would want to try to think like us and want to look in someplace difficult."

"Which wouldn't make any sense because you're not all that difficult." I commented.

"No, you're the difficult one between the two of us." He replied.

"You really wanna say that to your wife and the mother of your child, soon to be children?"

He looked at me stoically, "Yes. You're difficult and you enjoy it."

I sighed, "I can't argue that."

He smirked, "I know."

"Doesn't make it right that you said it though."

"Hormones kicking in a little early this time around?"

"One more remark like that, I will not hesitate to maim you." I replied vexed.

"I take that as a resounding yes." He commented as we headed off to find a place in the wall to hide the clue.

**-Verona 2013-**

**Bianca's POV**

"We've searched the entire wall, John." I told him, "There's nothing here."

"That's because the secretaries had it." Tess replied coming over to us with mom. "They didn't know what it was for or who it belonged to so they kept it until someone came to claim it."

"So what does it say?" I asked them.

"Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing always find a song. At the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet." Tess read, "Looks like Eva wrote this one down instead of Kaelen. The handwriting is very feminine."

"The same thing can be said about the quote." John commented.

"Actually it was a male who said that. It was Plato, actually. He was born in Athens. We'll probably find the next clue around there." I told him, as I looked at the clue. "And your right, Tess, Eva did right this. If it were Kaelen writing the clue, he probably would have picked a quote like, 'Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something' or 'Love is a serious mental disease'."

"So how are we going to leave something for them to find?" John asked.

"I'll write a letter and stick it in the wall after the secretaries have collected the letters from the people who actually need answers." I replied, "John, do we have to talk to-"

"I don't think so. The secretaries were waiting for someone to claim it, so I think it's okay for us to go ahead and take it."

"Alright. You guys go ahead to the hotel. I'm going to leave a clue for the others with the secretaries." I told them. They nodded and left.

I got out a piece of paper and a black gel pen and wrote: _'Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.' _I flipped it over and then wrote in numbers, _'16-5-15-16-12-5…4-15…3-18-1-26-25…20-8-9-14-7-19… 23-8-5-14… 20-8-5-25'18-5…9-14…12-15-22-5.'_ I laughed at the look of it and the idea of Ben trying to figure it out. He and Ian would over think it and not want to figure the message out simplistically, "Try and figure out that."

I got out my phone and texted Riley, **_On the next clue, when reading it, remember: simplicity is best. – Padame _**

**_That doesn't make any sense. – Bones_**

**-Washington D.C. 2013-**

**Riley's POV**

**_It will. We're headed to the third clue. If you hadn't headed to the first yet, I think we're far enough away for you guys to start. – Padame _**She replied.

**_Heading out tonight. – Bones_**

I had told Ben about the clue this afternoon. He called Ian and we were going to meet him tomorrow night. We made a deal with him that if we're going to help him, Carissa has to be returned to me first. With a lot of persuasion from his wife, he agreed.

I threw my phone into my computer bag, got Zach ready to go to Patrick's, and headed out the door.


	22. Chapter 22: Late Night Preparations

**AN: Hey, sorry this one took so long. I was trying to figure out some parts. I ended up watching the first National Treasure again and oddly enough, I'm watching What's Your Number and I got even more done. Although throughout the movie I kept thinking about the characters a few of the characters play. Captain America/The Human Torch, Biblo Baggins/John Watson, and Spock all in one movie. How can it really get any better? So yeah... Started on the next chapter it should be out sometime soon. Reviews (I know you guys must hear this a lot, but it is true) make the chapters come out faster. And if you guys have any ideas of what you want to see in the story comment or send me a message. After this I'm going to have one more chapter with Riley and Ben and then it's to Athens with Bianca. Any one figure out the coded message from the last chapter?**

**There is a TV show reference in this chapter. If you like old black and white TV shows, you'll probably get this one. The TV show is a classic and the line is kinda famous. It was one of the two lines that were really famous from the show.**

**Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to LoveSuperman, Always and a day Love, Musical Cake, and Guin Parris. **

**I hope you all like it. **

**Happy reading and enjoy!**

**_"A true hero isn't measured by the size of his strength, but by the strength of his heart."- Hercules_**

**_"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - Winnie the Pooh_**

**_"If you can't say somethin' nice, don't say nothin' at all!" - Bambi_**

_**"Life's not a spectator sport. If watchin' is all you're gonna do, then you're gonna watch your life go by without ya." - The Hunchback of Notre Dame**_

**_"A single grain of rice can tip the scale. One man may be the difference between victory and defeat." - Mulan_**

**Chapter Twenty Two: Late Night Preparations**

**-Ireland 2013-**

**Riley's POV**

Ben and I decided to take the trip to Ireland by ourselves. We split up when we got to the hotel that night. Ben went to go meet Ian. I went to meet Shippen and get Carissa back. Ben had already left to meet Ian to discuss the terms of our situation.

When I went down to the lobby, Carissa and Shippen were already there. When she saw me her eyes lit up. "Daddy!" She exclaimed excitedly before she sprinted towards me.

"Hello angel." I smiled, picking her up, "You okay?"

She smiled and nodded, "I did everything Mommy told me to."

"What exactly did Mommy tell you?" I asked. Carissa started to explain everything, eventually Shippen told me everything on his end as well.

'_Bianca, you've got some explaining to do.'_ I thought.

**Ben's POV**

"Alright, I gave you the first clue and you gave Riley his daughter." I stated, "There's not much you can take from us that we haven't already lost and there isn't anything about the clues that you need our help with. They're pretty straight forward. I don't see a reason for Riley and I to help you any more than we have. We don't want the treasure. We have no interest in pirates."

"Either way, you made a promise the treasure for the girl. I gave you the girl as an act of good faith, Ben. I can take her back if you wish. It be a shame to take her away now that she's back with her father, she's so much like her mother. It'd be a shame to take her back-"

"Fine, we'll do it. Meet us at Blarney Castle in two hours."

"I'm glad you see it my way, Ben." He smirked and left.

'_You left too soon, Bianca. We could really use you around._' I left to go back to the hotel.

When I got to the room Riley and Carissa were already back. Riley was on his laptop with Carissa sitting next to him in her pajamas trying to figure out what he was doing.

"Hey, what are you two looking at?" I greeted as I closed the door behind me.

"Hey Ben."

"Hi Uncle Ben!" Carissa greeted.

"We're looking at the security system for the castle. Since we're going in after hours, I have to know what I'm dealing with if I'm the one disarming they're system. I highly doubt any of the men Ian hires can disarm an alarm without shooting at something."

"And the security guards?" I inquired.

"By the time we get there the graveyard shifts will be over and the early morning shifts won't begin for a couple of hours after that. So, we have a small window of time to get in and out."

"Good to know." I replied, "What are we going to do about Carissa?"

"I wanna go!" She exclaimed, "I wanna help!"

"You're going to bed." Riley told her.

"But I can help."

"And one day, when you're older, I bet you will." He replied, "But tonight, you're going to bed."

"But I have something that can help." She argued.

"What do you have, angel?" Riley asked her, moving from his seat to crouch down to meet her level in her seat. Carissa took out a necklace from underneath her shirt. She had Bianca's necklace that our grandfather gave her. It originally belonged to Eva Gates given to her by Kaelen Flynn.

"Where did you get that?" I asked her.

"Mommy asked me to hold onto it for her. She said it was her good luck charm." She replied.

"Can I hold on to it for a bit?" I asked her. She shook her head.

Riley looked to me and shook his head, telling me not to push it any further "Let me talk to her and put her to bed and then we can leave." He picked her up and went to the adjoining room.

**Riley's POV**

"Do you have to go?" Carissa asked as I laid her down on the bed.

"Yeah, but I'll be back before you wake up." I assured her.

"Why can't I go?" She asked.

"You need your sleep." I replied, "I promise next treasure hunt we go on, you can come."

"Okay." She replied as I tucked her in.

"Why won't you let your Uncle Ben have the necklace?" I asked out of curiousity.

"If Mr. Howe sees, he's going to want it. I want it. Shippen told me to hide it. He said it was important." She replied, "Is it really that important?"

"It is." I replied, "I don't think we're going to need it now though. But when the time comes, we're gonna need the necklace, alright?"

She nodded, "Okay, Daddy."

I kissed her head, "I'll be back soon." I handed her her teddy bear from her bag. "Get some sleep, angel."

I turned on the light in the bathroom, so it wouldn't be pitch back, and then turned out the light. I went back to Ben.

"She's keeping the necklace?" He asked.

"Ian wants it. As long as he doesn't know we have it, we have a little bit over him." I replied as I put my computer away. "She agreed that if and when we needed it later we can use it."

"Well that was generous…"He replied sarcastically.

"Ben, she's five. It's her necklace and it is the last thing Bianca gave to her. Telling her to take care of the necklace were probably the last words she said to her." I replied annoyed as I finished packing my to-go back of things that I would need. I took my gun out of my suitcase and put it in the holster covered by my jacket. "If we need it later, we can have it. We doubt we need it right now and it safe with her, so let's go."

"You really think you need the gun?" Ben asked.

"Last time we encountered Ian, I almost got shot. So yeah, I think I need the gun."

Ben nodded and we left.


	23. Chapter 23: Mission After Midnight

**AN: So, two chapters in one night. Not too shabby. Finished this one while watching Harry Potter. Gotta love those movies. They're just awesome. I had ideas for a story for that series. Still have scraps of it left. Never went on with it though. It was followed the movies, but I added an element that was very AU and kinda complicated when it came to the main OCs. It was kinda too bad, the story wasn't have bad or at least the parts I had of it. Oh well. That's a story that's probably never going to be finished.**

**So, dedication for this chapter...This chapter is dedicated to anyone who has read and liked any of this series. You guys are the reason I write this and why I continue with it.**

**Happy reading and enjoy!**

**_ "Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open." - Albus Dumbledore_**

**_ "It is a curious thing, but perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it. Those who have leadership thrust upon them, and take up the mantle because they must, and find to their own surprise that they wear it well." - Albus Dumbledore_**

**_ "It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." - Albus Dumbledore_**

**_ "Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light." - Albus Dumbledore_**

**Chapter Twenty Three: Mission after Midnight**

**Riley's POV**

We met Ian at quarter to two in the morning. He had a small team with him comprised of Shippen, Phil, and a woman.

"Ben, glad you decided to come." Ian greeted Ben.

"I didn't have much choice." Ben replied.

"Riley, it's been a long time." Ian greeted, "You look very different. The years have been good to you."

"Ian." I nodded, "How was prison?"

"Stale." He replied after a moment as if to think of the right word. "The last three were better. The inmates were more intelligent. These ones were just bland. No imagination at all."

"So you won't mind going back after all of this is said and done?" I retorted.

"Look who's found their moxie." Ian smirked, "I guess being with Bianca rubbed off on you in more ways than one."

"Let's just get this over with, so we can all leave." I retorted, changing the subject, "Standing around talking wastes everyone's time."

I went over to the alarm system and decoded it. We all went inside.

"We're going to have to find Badger's Cave." I told them.

"Why Badger's Cave? Couldn't it be somewhere else on the grounds?" The woman, who I later found out, was Ian's wife, Ellie. Who in their right mind would marry him I had no idea.

"Because it was the only logical and safe place on these grounds, Kaelen and Eva would hide it knowing their minds." I replied.

"And you would know that how?" She asked.

"Because I read the journals." I replied as I got out the map I printed out of the ground earlier, and looked at it, "We go that way." I pointed.

"Who's in charge here?" Ian asked us.

"I read the journals, I know how Eva and Kaelen think, you endangered my daughter's safety, and your men killed my wife," I counted off all of the things I've had to face so far, "I'm in charge."

"And you're okay with this?" Ian asked in curious amusement.

"He read the journals." Ben replied, "He can tell you what's going on better than I can."

"So you two have switched roles? How interesting…" Ian commented.

"And you can talk about how interesting it is later; it's 2 am in the morning. We've only got a two hour time block until the early morning shifts begin. I'd rather not waste it talking about a change in management." I commented before I went ahead. Ben followed after, with Shippen and Phil right behind him, and a surprised Ian and Ellie following after them.

Twenty minutes later we found the cave and the next clue.

"This, this is new." Ellie stated looking at the words carved into the indented wall, "These were just carved in here."

"What does it say?"

"My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep; the more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite." Ellie read, and then said, "I think we have a little competition. This was probably carved in a few days ago looking at the stone. And whoever it was didn't want anyone to see what was on the stone in front of it or behind it or they wouldn't have taken it."

"There's always competition." I replied, "That doesn't really bother us. It looks like they want us to follow them."

"But why?" Ian asked.

"Maybe they see it as a game." I replied, "You're not they only criminal who has ever been after one of these treasures. Maybe Edward Teach or one of the other pirates involved with the treasure, you're not the only one who would want that treasure."

"Why do you think it's another criminal?" Ben asked.

"Because you and I are the only good guys in the madness." I replied looking at him.

"So what does the quote mean?" Shippen asked.

"It's by Shakespeare. It's from Romeo and Juliet." I replied.

"It means the next clue is in Verona, Italy." Ben added.

We left the cave. Ellie, Ian, Phil, and Shippen left to go to their hotel and us to ours. When we got into our hotel room, I went into the adjoining room to check on Carissa as Ben locked the doors. She was still asleep.

"What are we going to do about her?" Ben asked.

"We're gonna have to take her with us." I sighed, watching her sleep. "We're not going to have time to take her home."

"Are you sure?" Ben asked.

I nodded, "I'm sure."


	24. Chapter 24: Oracle of Delphi

**AN: So this chapter went by very fast. Finished it in around two hours. The next chapter should be out soon. Wow. this is been a productive couple of days. I'm starting the next chapter now. It should be out soon.**

**I don't own the legend of the Oracle of Delphi used in here. I found it on the internet. This chapter and the next chapter, and the location of this clue was inspired by My Life in Ruins.**

**Before I forget, the TV Show reference was from I Love Lucy. **

**This chapter is dedicated to Guin Parris. **

**Happy reading and enjoy!**

_**"I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something." - Sam, Lord of the Rings **_

_**"Loyalty, honor, a willing heart, I can ask no more than that." Thorin, The Hobbit**_

_**"I like visitors, but I usually get to know them before they visit." - Bilbo, The Hobbit**_

_**"True courage is about knowing not when to take a life, but when to spare one." - Gandalf, The Hobbit**_

_**"You can't reason with them. They're halfwits!" Dori**_

_**"What does that make us?" Bofur**_

_**- Dori and Bofur, The Hobbit**_

**Chapter Twenty Four: Oracle of Delphi**

**Bianca's POV**

"We've searched all over this damn city." Tess sighed. "It's not here."

We had been searching all day and we had absolutely nothing. We sitting in a café in Delphi called the Cafe Melopoleio. Mom, John, and Tess had coffee. I needed something stronger than coffee. I found something called a Kerasitini. It was some type of cocktail. It had, I think, three different types of alcohol in it, cranberry juice, and tonic water. I thought it would give me some inspiration into Eva and Kaelen's minds. They drank some type of cranberry wine all of the time. This had cranberry juice in it, it was close…sort of.

"Don't you think it's a little early to drink, Bianca?" Tess asked.

"You're not my mother, Tess." I stated.

"Oh leave her be, Tess." John commented, "It's almost five anyway."

"Now back to this clue," Mom changed the subject before the squabbling started, "what if it had nothing to do with Plato other than to bring us to Athens?"

"It's entirely plausible." I replied shrugging, "The clue could be more that it was about Alexander or what he believed than it was by Plato. What was the clue again?"

"Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing always find a song. At the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet." John replied.

I thought for a moment, "Okay, that's definitely more about the relationships between Kaelen and Eva, and Alexander and Madeline. But when it came to love, Alexander and Madeline pretty much had it figured out, yeah, they were separated for a while, but they, even though they were quiet about it, they knew they loved each other. Kaelen and Eva though, they needed help, and when they need help, they went to Alexander…as if he were an oracle they could ask questions to." I felt like a light bulb went on in my head. "Delphi! It's at Delphi! Why didn't I see this before? It's not the-"

"Shut up Bianca." Tess glared and quietly said, "You're making a scene and drawing attention to yourself. You're supposed to be dead, remember?"

"I remember, Tess; and when I forget I have a huge scar on my stomach to remind me."

"Alright, you two have been around each other for too long." John sighed, "Time to separate you two. Emily, you and Bianca, you two know the journals best, go to the museum, and try to figure out where they could possibly hide it. Tess and I are going to straighten things out with the government."

We nodded and split up.

**-Mediterranean Sea 1720-**

**Eva's POV**

"You want to hide it where?" Kaelen asked confused.

"Delphi." I repeated.

"Why?"

"Have you ever heard about the oracle of Delphi?" I asked him.

"No." He shook his head.

"The story goes thatone day, Apollo decided he needed was an oracle, a wise woman to speak for him. In ancient Greece, an oracle was a person who could predict and interpret the future. That way, he could keep the gifts, but not be bothered with questions. Apollo used some of his special magic and established his oracle in a temple at Delphi. There were many oracles, or fortune tellers, in ancient Greece. Apollo wanted his to be the best. He wanted his to be the most famous. Apollo knew that the predictions made by other oracles were rather vague. A normal oracle might answer, "Yes, the frost will be gone, and spring will come, if the gods decree it." Such an answer was not much help if your question was, "Should I plant my garden tomorrow?" Apollo made sure his oracle would not be vague, and that all her answers had to be truthful. It was a good plan. It might have worked, too, only sometimes people misunderstood what she was telling them. And that caused quite a bit of trouble. For example, a weary king traveled past many oracles to reach Apollo's oracle in Delphi. He knew she could only tell the truth. When he finally arrived, he asked Apollo's oracle, "Who will win the battle tomorrow?" The oracle smiled at him, and gently answered, "A great king." The king was very happy to hear this. He left many gifts for the oracle, and went quickly away to ready his men for battle, quite pleased that he had come. What he had overlooked in his haste is that more than one king would lead his men to battle in the morning. An oracle's smile meant nothing. That was the trouble with oracles, even the best of them."

"And that fits with the clue how?" Kaelen asked.

"I love you, but you are so thick sometimes." I replied, "Think about the clue we left. _Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing always find a song. At the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet._ Whenever we had a problem in our relationship and when we were sorting out our feelings for each other we went to Alexander. He was basically our oracle."

"Alright, Delphi it is." He replied, "Where are we hiding it?"

"I don't know." I replied after thinking for a moment.

"Why don't we just hide it where the oracle would answer questions?" He asked nonchalantly.

"And defile an important religious and historical site?"

"We're pirates, we're going to hell anyway, it doesn't matter what we defile." Kaelen justified it. The look on his face was so stoic. I couldn't help laughing. He was never stoic.

"What's so funny?" He asked confused.

"I'm sorry, it's just…" I laughed even harder. "Your face" I said in between laughs, "when you said that…" I tried to stop laughing. I don't know what it was that made it so funny to me, but I found it hilarious, "It was so unlike you…"

"You done?" He asked calmly. I nodded. He rolled his eyes and shook his head, "So, Delphi?"

"Delphi." I nodded.

**-Delphi 2013-**

**Bianca's POV**

We had walk around the museum for a while. We stopped at a picture of the historic site where the oracle would answer questions. Mom and I both looked to each other.

"They wouldn't…" I said not wanting to believe the idea apparently we both had of where it was held.

"They're pirates." Mom replied, "Of course they would."

"We better call John." I sighed, "Neither government is going to like this."


	25. Chapter 25: The Land of the Trolls

**AN: Very short chapter, but it leads to the next clue. Next chapter is back to Riley & Co. And for the next period of chapters, there's gonna be a switches between Riley and Bianca, but that's not gonna be for very long. There's just one more stop between the clue in this chapter and the final destination. So that's kinda exciting. The final location is going to have the whole group and starting there will be more of a game of riddles instead of clues and artifacts.**

**This chapter is dedicated to anyone who reads and likes these stories. **

**Happy reading and enjoy!**

_**"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." — Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride**_

**Chapter Twenty Five: The Land of the Trolls**

It took a while, but for ten percent of the treasure, we got them to agree to dig. We would have to, to get to the clue. There was no way they could have hidden it without burying it. We had ideas of where it would be. Our best bet was the ruins of the Temple of Apollo near the columns.  
"So how much are we out so far?" John asked about the treasure.

"15 percent." I replied.

"That's not too bad…" John replied, "Could be-"

"Don't jinx it." I replied as we started to dig.

About twenty minutes later we found something. A wooden box with intricate carvings on it, John opened it and found a carved wooden creature.

"That's cute." I snorted. It was one of the oddest looking creatures I had ever seen, "Are there any inscriptions on it?"

John turned it over, "D'er lettast aa laera av annan manns skade."

"What language is that?" I asked him.

"I have no clue."

"It's Norwegian." Mom told us surprised when we showed it to her after we got back to the hotel.

"What does it say?" I asked her.

"It is easiest to learn from another man's damage." She replied, "The English equivalent is 'Wise men learn by other men's mistakes, fools by their own.'"

"That doesn't really help much." Tess commented.

"Maybe it's not the inscription that's the clue. Maybe it's the ugly little creature." I suggested, "What is that thing by the way?"

"I think it's supposed to be a troll." Mom replied. John googled it on his laptop and pulled up the images, she was right. It was a troll.

"Those are cuter." I commented on the little figurines that came up on Google Images.

"So the next clue has something to do with trolls." Tess mulled it over, "John, type in Norway Troll and places. See what comes up."

"Top results are the Trollstigen or the Troll path."

"Put that into images." I told him. He did so. I gawked, "I ain't climbin' any mountains. I'm not going to even think about going through that in a car!"

"How the hell would we even be able to find it?" Tess asked staring at it wide eyed.

"I don't know." John replied gravely.

"We're going to need to buy some time." Mom stated.

"How?" Tess asked.

"Leave them stranded in Greece until we find the next clue." I replied, "After we find next clue, we'll play big bad criminal competition and hack into their systems and tell them where the next clue is."

"Why would criminals give their competition hints?" Mom asked.

"For the thrill of the game." John, Tess, and I replied all at the same time.


	26. Chapter 26: Letters from Juilet

**AN: So, here's the next chapter. I'm in the process of moving, so I don't know how fast the next one is gonna come out. It could be a couple of days, could be a couple of weeks. I'll try not to let it be a month before I update. It really all depends on how much free time I have. I promise though, longer it takes more chapters I'll post at a time.**

**So this chapter is dedicated to Musical Cake and Guin Parris. **

**I hope you guys like the chapter. **

**Happy reading everyone!**

_** 'Here, pretend - pretend that that's a seed.'**_

_**'It's a rock.'**_

_**'Oh, I know it's a rock, I know. But let's just pretend for a minute that it's a seed, alright? We'll just use our imaginations. Now, now do you see our tree? Everything that made that giant tree is already contained inside this tiny little seed. All it needs is some time, a little bit of sunshine and rain, and voilá!'**_

_**'This rock will be a tree?'**_

_**'Seed to tree. You've gotta work with me, here. Alright? Okay. Now, y-you might not feel like you can do much now, but that's just because, well, you're not a tree yet. You just have to give yourself some time. You're still a seed.'**_

_**'But it's a rock.'**_

_**'I know it's a rock! Don't you think I know a rock when I see a rock? I've spent a lot of time around rocks!'**_

_**'You're weird, but I like you.'**_

_**-Flik and Dot, A Bug's Life**_

**Chapter Twenty Six: Letters from Juliet**

**Riley's POV**

**-Italy 2013-**

Verona was nice. I get why Kaelen and Eva would hide a clue here. We were over by the wall. We hadn't found anything yet.

"Riley, I'd rather not be the one to tell you this, because I don't really care, but your kid just ran off that way." Ian stated still looking at wall, he pointed near the Club Di Giulietta.

**_'Crap…'_** I groaned and ran off after her. I ended up running into a lady with a basket of letters in her hand. I helped her pick up the letters she dropped, "Mi dispiace. Sto cercando mia figlia. Lei corse via qui vicino."

_(I'm sorry. I'm looking for my daughter. She ran off near here.)_

"Circa 3 metri di altezza, lunghi capelli biondi, occhi azzurri, e non parla italiano?" The woman asked.

_(Around 3 feet tall, long blonde hair, blue eyed, and doesn't speak any Italian?)_

I nodded, "Sì che è lei."

"E 'con i segretari de Giulietta. Vieni con me."

_(She's with the secretaries de Juliet. Come with me.)_

"Grazie."

_(Thank you.)_

I followed her into the building. When we got to the room where they answered the letters, the secretaries were crowded around what, well who, I'm guessing was Carissa.

"Lei è così carina." One of the secretaries cooed.

_(She's so cute.)_

"Da dove è venuta da?" Another secretary asked.

_(Where did she come from?)_

"Mi piace. Facciamo la sua conservazione." A secretary exclaimed.

_(I like her. Let's keep her.)_

_'Yup. Carissa is definitely in the middle of that crowd.'_ I smirked shaking my head.

"Lei ha una famiglia, Arabella. Deve essere un turista." Another secretary said to the one who was called Arabella.

_(She has a family, Arabella. She must be a tourist.)_

"Lei è un turista. Siamo Americano. Sono sorpreso che non ha ancora detto nulla. Lei è molto brava in questo. Le piace raccontare storie." I said breaking up their crowd.

_(She is a tourist. We're American. I'm surprised she hasn't said anything yet. She's very good at that. She likes to tell stories.)_

"Hello Daddy." Carissa smiled, "I told you I could help. I followed the lady with the letters to find the clue."

"Thank you, Carissa."

"Clue?" One of the secretaries asked, "Are you Mr. Riley Poole?"

"Yes." I nodded.

"Do you mind if we ask you some security questions to make sure?" Another asked.

_'You really had to make this hard, didn't you, Bianca?'_ I thought, "Sure."

"Where were you when you had your first kiss with your wife?" One asked.

"In an alleyway." I answered.

"What's an alleyway?" Carissa asked.

"It's a narrow backstreet." I answered.

"That isn't romantic." Carissa asked.

"It was rushed and wasn't supposed to be." I replied, "How do you know what romantic means?"

"Mommy."

I shook my head, "Do you have any other questions.

"Yes, she gave us one for each of us." The first secretary to ask a question said.

"Where did you get married?" The second one asked.

"On a beach in Islamadora, Florida" I replied.

"Where did you go on your honeymoon?" The third asked.

"Maui." I replied.

"Where's Maui?" Carissa asked.

"It's an island that's in Hawaii." I answered.

"What kind of animal is Carissa's stuffed animal and what's its name?" The fourth asked.

"Her stuffed animal is a teddy bear. His name is-"

"My bear's name is Madeline!" Carissa exclaimed.

"What are Carissa and Zach's full names?" The fifth secretary asked.

"Carissa's is Carissa Marie Poole and Zach's is Zachary Sherlock Poole." I answered. I got to pick Carissa's first name and Zach's middle name. I got to pick Zach's first name and Carissa's middle name. It was the only way would agree on the names.

"What languages do you speak?" The last one asked.

"Italian, English, Klingon, Romulan, Elvish, Dwarfish, and Vulcan." I replied. The first woman gave me an envelope. "Thank you."

I picked up Carissa and we left the building.

"No more running off by yourself, okay?"

"But I can help…" Carissa argued.

"You have helped." I told her, "Just please leave the clue finding and big people stuff to us from now on."

"But I want to help." Carissa replied.

_'Her first word was no, it's not like I didn't see this coming.'_ I sighed,setting her down, "And you have, just let me do the bigger jobs like this from now on. You could get hurt doing this stuff."

"But I don't want to do the little jobs; I want to be like you and mommy. I want to be big and do big stuff."

I smiled, "And you will one day. Right now you're little, but that's not a bad thing. There's a lot of stuff you can only do when you're little."

"Like what?"

"Well, you can obviously get through a crowd without being noticed easier than others, for one thing."

"But you don't like it when I do that." She pointed out.

"No, no I don't good point." I replied, "Let's see what's in the envelope, shall we?" I opened the envelope before she could reply and then read quietly to myself, _'Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.'_

"One…Six…Five…One…Five…" Carissa started to say.

"What are you-"

"Turn it over, Daddy…" She cut me off. I turned it over. There was a message in numbers. Now I got what Bianca had said about simplicity.

_'16-5-15-16-12-5…4-15…3-18-1-26-25…20-8-9-14-7-19… 23-8-5-14… 20-8-5-25'18-5…9-14…12-15-22-5.'_

"Simplicity is best…" I said aloud, and then looked down at Carissa, "How would you figure this out?"

"How many letters are there?" She asked.

"In the Alphabet?" I asked, "26."

"Are there any numbers that are bigger?" She asked.

I looked at the letter again, "No." I smiled, "Thank you."

"For what?"

"You helped." I replied, writing the numbers down above the letters. _'People do crazy things when they're in love.'_

"That's from Hercules!" Carissa exclaimed.

"The Disney movie?" I asked her.

She nodded, "He and Meg both say it."

"So you think the next clue is in Greece?" I asked her.

"The musical?" Carissa asked.

_'She spends way too much time watching movies with her mother.' _I thought shaking my head, "Where the Disney movie Hercules takes place."

"Oh…"

"Now where in Greece…" I said to myself, and then flipped the card over and typed the message into Google. The top result was Plato. I guess the clue's leading us to Athens then. "Time to go, angel."

We headed back to the others to tell them what we found.


	27. Chapter 27: Long to Hear You

**AN: Happy 4th of July to anyone to everyone who celebrates it! Here is my gift to you guys for this awesome day. Next chapter I'll go back to the dedications, but today it's for everyone who believes in what the holiday represents.**

**Happy reading everyone!**

_**'Good morning. In less than an hour, aircraft from here will join others from around the world. And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind. "Mankind." That word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. Perhaps it's fate that today is the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom... Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution... but from annihilation. We are fighting for our right to live. To exist. And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day the world declared in one voice: "We will not go quietly into the night!" We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day!' - Independence Day**_

**Chapter Twenty Seven: Long to Hear You**

**Riley's POV**

**-Greece 2013-**

Athens. Beautiful, cultural city and such a waste of time. A clue wasn't here. We've searched the city for the past three days. There was absolutely nothing. I was on my way to get dinner for Carissa, Ben, and I.

I called Bianca.

**_"Hello Bones."_** She greeted. By her tone, it was obvious she was expecting this call.

"What the hell, Padame?" I asked, "There isn't anything here."

**_"We're trying to find the next clue. This one's a bit tougher than the others. We weren't left with much leeway."_** Bianca replied.

"There is no clue here, is there?"

**_"There was…"_**

"And you didn't leave one behind?"

**_"We couldn't." _**She replied, **_"We didn't have much to go on for the clue, just the country and a rough area where it is. We've got a whole bloody mountain to search, Bones. We needed the time."_**

"So you decided to leave us stranded in Greece?" I asked her.

**_"We'll send you guys a message when we find it and then you guys can search a bloody mountain for a godforsaken clue that we don't even know is still here or not. We have a whole team out here and we haven't found anything yet! Do you know how many times I've climbed up and down this bloody mountain in the past three days-"_**

**_"That's enough yelling at the poor chap for now."_** A familiar aussie accent caught me by surprise. **_"Hello Riley, sorry about Bianca, she's been a bit on edge for the past couple of days. Can't imagine why…"_**

**_"Can't imagine why? Really?!" _**I could hear Bianca yell at John in the background.

**_"No, not a clue." _**John replied laughing.

**_"I'm glad you find this whole situation funny."_** Bianca replied.

"I'm starting to think I'd rather not know." I commented.

**_"I'm sorry, mate, this place doesn't seem to agree with her." _**John laughed.

**_"The sun never bloody sets!"_**

**_"That only happens in the summertime."_** John corrected her, **_"You're just ticked we haven't found it yet."_**

**_"No, I ticked that I'm supposedly dead, haven't had any sleep in three days, looking for a clue with no idea of where it is other than it's on this bloody mountain, and haven't had se-"_**

**_"Okay, time to get back to finding the clue." _**John cut her off, **_"You'll know when we have the next clue. Enjoy Athens." _**

He hung up. I got the food and then went back to the hotel.

"And to think I was starting to think you got lost." Ben joked.

"Nah, long line." I replied, "So have you got any ideas of where it could be?"

"Not a one." Ben replied, "You?"

"Other than the other people looking for the treasure took it with them, no." I replied.

"So what do we do now?"

"Why are you asking me?" I asked.

"You're in charge, Riley." Ben replied, "What do you wanna do?"

"I say we stay here a little while more." I replied, "The guys we're up against seem to like to show us where to go. They like the thrill of the chase."

"They see this as a game." Ben said understanding.

"I think so." I replied. I couldn't tell him it was Bianca who was basically screwing with his head for the fun of it. "They probably found the clue, and figured out the general location like the country or city or whatever, and then couldn't figure out anything specific past that and decided to give us the next clue when they're ready to."

"And how would they do that?" Ben asked.

"I don't know, they're probably criminals." I replied, "There are a lot of ways to do it. They could do anything from hacking into our electronic devices to making a spectacle all of Athens or the world can see. Depends on how flashy they are."

"So you want to sit around here and wait for a sign?" Ben asked point blank.

_'Pretty much, yeah.'_ I thought and then offered, "Let's look for a few more days and then if we don't find anything or hear anything, we go back home and look at the journals again, see if there was something I missed."

**-Norway 2013-**

**Bianca's POV**

I was starting to like this place less and less the longer we spent here. Don't get me wrong, Norway was beautiful and majestic, but trying to function on less than a few hours of sleep and that was even before we got here. I haven't slept in three days. Three days! Count them 1 2 3. That doesn't really make for a happy person, then add in supposedly being dead, trying to find a clue that isn't really marked, and being sexually frustrated. I'm not the person you want to piss off, or at least I'm not while we're still in Norway.

"Damn midnight sun…" I muttered.

"Oh it's not that bad." John laughed. He was finding this whole situation hilarious.

I glared at him, "Says the man who can fall asleep anywhere at any time of day." I looked back down at the path. Sadusky flew in agents to search the area, they arrived a couple of hours ago. Mom and Tess were supervising the proceedings. "Have they found anything yet?"

"No." John replied, losing the humor he had.

"How much of the treasure is going to Norway?" I asked.

"Fifteen percent." John answered, "Looks like we're out 30 percent now."

"We still have seventy percent left."

"If the other countries don't ask for anything." John replied, "What's seventy percent split up four ways?"

"Yeah, math isn't my thing." I replied.

"What do you guess it is?"

"Around 17 to 18 percent each. I'd rather split it up three ways, since you and Tess are married and it isn't fair to the rest of us if you get double because it's going into the same account. Three ways would be around 23 to 24 percent each."

"I don't know if that's quite-"

"We found something!" One of the agents yelled. John and I rushed down to see what they found.

Buried six feet under was a skeleton holding a scroll close to his heart.

"Wow…" I commented looking it. There wasn't much I could say about the poor sod. I sighed and instructed, "Alright… Barnes, toss me up the scroll, and then you and your team bury him back up."

Agent Barnes tossed me up the scroll and then instructed the team to get to work. I opened the scroll. There were two clues, a small one looking about a century or two older than the other bigger one holding it. The bigger clue was sheet music and the older clue was another written clue. I gave the other scroll to John and looked at the sheet music to see if I could figure out if it was an actual known song.

"Okay it's in D major. Starts of on a lower A. So, it would be…" I thought aloud and then tried to sight read the song. "A, D, D, D_," I smiled as I saw the next few notes. I knew this song. I started at the beginning again. "Oh Shenandoah, I long to hear you Away you rollin' river Oh Shenandoah, I long to hear you Away, I'm bound away 'Cross the wide Missouri." I smiled, "Such a pretty song. The clue leads us to Shenandoah River. What have you got John?"

"A tiny map!" John said ecstatically, "Treasure's in Shenandoah."

"Geez, Happy 4th of July to us." I laughed.


	28. Chapter 28: Tricks

**AN: So, I tried to make this chapter really long for you guys. I had a lot of fun and quite a bit of time to work it with it. I actually wrote all of it for the most part yesterday. **

**This chapter is dedicated to Ella Fox, orcafan1, ariah23, , and Guin Parris.**

**I hope everyone enjoys the chapter.**

**Happy reading!**

**_'If you focus on what you leave behind, you will never be able to focus on what lies ahead.' - Ratatouille_**

**_'Some people care to much...I think it's called love.' - Winnie the Pooh_**

**_'You know the place between sleep and awake; that place where you can still remember dreaming? That's where I will always love you. That's where I will be waiting.' - Peter Pan_**

**Chapter Twenty Eight: Tricks**

**-Norway 2013-**

**Bianca's POV**

"I don't get it." Tess said after we got back to the hotel.

"You don't get a lot of things." I commented dryly.

"Very funny." She replied, "I meant the clue."

"It's Shenandoah, what's not to get?" John asked her blankly.

"I know what she's getting at." I told him, "The song wasn't created until around the 1800's-"

"So someone could have already taken it." Tess interjected, probably thinking it was how I was going to finish the sentence.

"Why are you always so negative?" I asked her simply, "Just because we have a clue that is younger than the treasure doesn't necessarily mean that it is gone."

"It's the only logical reason." Tess countered.

"If I only went by logic, I would probably be out of a job by now. You cannot make deductions solely on logic." I retorted, "And it isn't the only logical reason for the clue to be there, for it were already taken by someone else, the person would not have bothered to leave a clue in the first place because why bother leaving a clue behind for something you don't want anyone else to find?"

"Why are we leaving clues behind then?"

"Because we want the others to find where we're headed. That's the bloody reason we're on this whole escapade. We're doing it to catch a criminal."

"Then why did someone leave a clue behind?"

"Maybe the first clue was destroyed and someone who was related to the daughters, for instance, replaced it with something well known from they're time period."

"Like they were maintaining the clue." John surmised, "Someone's gonna be really angry when they find out the clues are gone."

"Most likely." I replied dryly.

"They're gonna want the rest of the treasure." John said.

"Probably." I replied simply.

"You don't care." John stated.

"About keeping the treasure, not too much, it'd be nice to get a percent for our trouble to find it, but I'm not too concerned." I replied nonchalantly, "I've got money...And so do you-"

"We've got more two kids to put through college." Tess interjected.

"Yeah in around five years. You've got time and make more than most."

"Bianca, is right you two. We don't need the money." Mom stated, tired of hearing the back and forth.

"We wouldn't get as much of a percent anyway. Usually we get about 1-5 percent depending on the treasure found." I added, "Oh and the credit for finding it. Dividing it, we'd each get a little over one or two percent each."

"If we divide it between the four of us, it would be around one percent." Tess stated.

"Yes, it would if we were going to divide it between the four of us." I told her, "As I told John, married couples count for one person. So really we're dividing whatever share we get three ways. Four ways if we meet up with Ben and Riley in Shenandoah."

"Speaking of which what are we going to do about Ben and Riley?" Mom asked.

"I don't know." I shrugged, "The way I see it we can do this two ways, we could have them go to Shenandoah and play the whole thing by ear or we could send them here while we go to Shenandoah figure everything out and set up a trap."

"I say we go with the second." John commented.

"I agree with John." Mom agreed.

"I guess we're going with option two then." I stated.

"Don't I get a say?" Tess asked.

"Either way we'd be going with option two, so it really doesn't matter which one you vote for." I replied.

Tess opened her mouth to argue but Mom asked before she could, "So how are we leading them here?"

"Well you can't be married to a computer geek without learning some of the tricks of the trade." I smiled mischievously, "We're gonna hack into their electronic devices."

**-Greece 2013-**

**Riley's POV**

'**_Come seek us where our voices sound. We cannot sing above the ground. An hour long you have to look to recover what we took_****.**' Ben and my phones sang repeatedly. With my laptop joining in a couple of seconds after.

"What the hell, Riley?" Ben asked.

"I don't know. They started playing by themselves."

"Harry Potter!" Carissa exclaimed waking up, obviously hearing the song

"What?"

"That song. It's a clue from Harry Potter It's about mermaids." Carissa replied.

"What would that have to do with the treasure?" Ben asked her.

"How would I know?" Carissa replied, "I'm five."

I laughed, "It's probably where it's hidden wherever it is. Let me see if they sent anything with the song."

**-Norway 2013-**

**Bianca's POV**

"You're sending them to the bottom of an ocean." Tess surmised, "Are you crazy?"

I gestured _'Little.'_

"A little bit." She said seeing the gesture, "Oh that's reassuring."

"You do remember Carissa is with them, right?" John asked.

"And Ben and Ian will probably be the ones to dive." I replied.

"Why-" Mom started.

"Because they're the ones who've had training." I replied and then looked at John, "Are any of the agents Sadusky sent still here?"

"A few, why?" John replied.

"Which ones?" I asked.

"Barnes, Reid, Watson, Barton, and Scott." John replied, "Why?"

"Is our corpse friend still available?" I asked him, ignoring his inquiry.

"Uh yeah, I think so." John replied confused, "Why?"

"He's gonna need to go into the ocean."

**-Greece 2013-**

**Riley's POV**

"All I'm seeing is a lot of reindeer, mountains, and pictures of the sky." Ben said look through the file.

"Is there a time on any of those pictures?"

"Yeah-" He started as I came around to look at the pictures.

"These were taken at night." I stated.

"The camera's clock could be off." Ben replied.

"Or it could be Norway's summer midnight sun." I replied, finally understanding why Bianca was complaining of lack of sleep. "Scroll back up I want to see the mountains again."

**-Norway 2013-**

**Bianca's POV**

"How's the chest coming Agent Scott?" I asked the amateur engineer. Agent Nicolas Scott, Scotty, was half Scottish and half English. He was from San Francisco, but very proud of his heritage. Engineering was one of his only loves. He always said if he didn't work for the FBI as a field agent, he would have been a mechanical engineer for the military.

"We may have a wee problem, lass."

"There are no problems, Scotty, only solutions." I replied.

"Well I'd like to see you find a solution to this one." Scotty replied.

"What's the matter, Scotty?" I asked.

"We've got no way to send our bony friend down to Davey Jones." He replied.

"I'll get Reid right on that." I replied.

"Thanks, lass."

I went over to Agent Matthew Reid. He was from Vegas. He had doctorates in physics, chemistry, and quantum mechanics.

"Hey Reid, I'm gonna need you to find a way to get our skeletal friend to the bottom."

Reid nodded, "On it"

I went to go check on Barnes and Watson who were configuring a new clue and a message from the supposed criminals we were supposed to be.

"How's it going?" I asked them.

"We've got it almost settled. It's just the message. Do you know we're your going to meet them so they can get the map?" Watson replied. Agent John Watson was a military man. He fought in Afghanistan before he came to work with us.

"Is there any way to make two of it without damaging it?" I asked him.

"Yeah." Barnes replied. Agent Ben Barnes wasn't a man of many words. He spoke when he needed to. It was usually why he would hang around Watson, who understood his, more often than not, silent language.

Barnes picked up the map, took out his phone, took a picture of the map and then set the map back down. "Now we have a map."

"We?" I asked.

"Yeah, Barton decided we, Ben, Scotty, Reid, Barton, and I, all of us, I mean, should stay with you guys and help." Watson replied, "Riley's the only one who is working with the other group that has met us. Aaron's with Miss Howe, making sure she stays under the radar and off the grid. So I don't think we have a problem if we stay with you guys"

"Message." Barnes reminded Watson.

"Right, what do you want the message to say?" Watson asked.

"We could say 'Prepare to be boarded'." I laughed, not really being serious about it.

"I like that. Let's write that down." Watson said to Barnes. Barnes wrote it down.

"Guys, I wasn't being serious." I laughed.

"It's piratey and has more than one meaning to it." Watson replied.

"It works." Barnes said simply.

"We're ready for Bones to go to Scotty." Watson replied laughing slightly at his own reference.

"Scotty's not ready yet. He still has some things to work out for the chest were putting him in." I replied, "You'll have to check with him in a bit." I added before I went to go see Barton.

Agent Jeremy Barton was a field agent we just happened to stumble upon. He was a circus performer turned street cop, before we found him. He was a lot smarter than the work he was doing, Sadusky offered him a job and he rose through the ranks rather quickly.

"Hey stranger." I greeted, "I heard you wanted to stay behind."

"Thought it was best if you had a bigger team behind you." He replied.

"So what are you working on?" I asked him.

"Waiting for the skeleton." He replied, "The way Matt has it figured out, they're gonna send me down with the corpse, have me situate him, and then pull me back up."

"Have you done this before?"

"No, first time. Always looking to try something new." He replied, "So what's your plan for Shenandoah?"

"We're gonna wake some spirits." I smiled at my ingenious plan.

"Spirits?" He asked, "Like dead people spirits? Like 'Thriller' type ghosts?"

"You're not afraid of a couple of little mean old ghosts, are you, Barton?" I asked him teasingly.

"No," He retorted, "I just don't think they're real."

"You sure about that?" I asked with a smirk, before going back over to the front to see how Scotty and Reid were progressing, never mentioning to Barton that the spirits we were waking were spirits we made up ourselves using tricks used in the Haunted Mansion. I love that ride.

"How we progressing boys?" I asked.

**-Greece 2013-**

**Riley's POV**

"What was with the electronic malfunction?" Ian asked annoyed when we met him in the lobby the next afternoon.

"Other guys hacked into our systems too." Ben told him. "The clue is from-"

"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It was the clue to the second challenge in the tournament." Ian replied, "We have to go under water to find the next clue. Where are we headed?"

"Norway." Ben and I replied.

"Do you know where in Norway?" Ellie asked us.

"Not yet. We weren't given that clue yet. We've only got that it's on the coast of Norway at the bottom of the North or Baltic Sea." I replied.

"That doesn't tell us much." Ian replied.

"But it is more information than what we had before and it narrows down quite a bit." Ellie chastised him, "Are we just waiting for the last clue?"

"Yeah." Ben replied.

"Alright." Ellie replied before dragging Ian away.

"I'm gonna go call and check on Zach." I told Ben, "Stay with Carissa make sure she doesn't wander off."

I left.

**Ben's POV**

"So Carissa," I turned to where she was. She wasn't there anymore. "...Shit."

I ran off to find Carissa.

**Riley's POV**

Okay, did I lie? Yes. I wasn't very concerned for Zach. Patrick's got it handled. I checked in on Zach last night, he was absolutely fine. I was calling Bianca.

**_"Hey what's up?"_** She answered.

"We've only got part of a clue." I told her.

**_"I'm aware. I'll hack into your systems later and send you the region."_** She replied, **_"We're still working on a couple of things here."_**

"You're stalling for time." I surmised.

**_"Yeah."_**

"Bottom of an ocean really?"

**_"I thought it went with the theme." _**She replied.

"Great." I replied, "Where you headed now?"

**_"Can't tell you that."_**

"Can you tell me anything thing?" I asked exasperated.

**_"I can tell you a lot of things, Riley Poole."_** She retorted annoyed.

"You know what I meant."

**_"And you know I can't tell you everything."_** She replied, **_"You're not even supposed to know I'm alive."_**

"Then why do I?"

**_"John and I found a loophole."_** She replied, **_"Look we just set up your guy's clue. We're just waiting for our guy to resurface."_**

"Guy?" I asked, "What guy?"

**_"Barton went underwater to set up your guys' clue." _**She replied, **_"We need a few more agents to carry the last few steps of this out."_**

"Which agents?"

**_"Barton, Barnes, Watson, Reid, and Scotty."_** She replied nonchalantly.

"You dated half of those guys."

**_"Going on a date or two isn't the same thing as dating." _**She replied, **_"Its Barton you have the problem with."_**

**-Norway 2013-**

**Bianca's POV**

**_"You dated him-"_**

"A long time ago before we even met." I sighed tiredly, Riley's never liked Barton. I think he would have been less intimidated if I had dated Reid on and off. It's not like I slept with him or cheated. "Riley," I started, breaking the code names for a moment; "You know I love you. You're the only guy I've ever said that to and will only ever say it to. Don't get like this about Barton, the way you did, well do, Aaron. We're friends. I married you."

**_"Did he ask?"_**

_'Yes.'_ I thought and then hesitantly replied, "I said no and he eventually met an agent in Salzburg that he knew when he was younger."

**_"Before or after he was a circus performer?"_** He asked.

"Before. She ran away to the circus with him."

**_"And he left her to be a cop?"_**

"He liked the town." I replied nonchalantly.

**_"He liked a girl."_** Riley corrected.

"Probably." I agreed, "We good now?"

**_"Yeah."_** He replied, **_"We're gonna have to talk more later."_**

"Looking forward to it." I commented annoyed before I hung up. I went over to the shore, "What's the status on Barton?"

"Pulling him up now, lass!" Scotty called over.

"Good, the sooner we can get out of this god forsaken country the better." I replied bitterly.

**-Greece 2013-**

**Riley's POV**

"Damn…" I sighed and went back to where Ben and Carissa were, only to see that they weren't there. "Where the hell did they go?" I pulled out my phone and called Ben, "Where are you guys?"

"**_The theater of Dionysus_****.**" Ben replied. He sounded just as annoyed as I was. "**_Last time I tell that kid to hold a map. As soon as you left she was gone._**"

"Do you have her now?" I asked

"**_Yeah. I got her._**" Ben replied, "**_You should really think about getting her a leash or something._**"

"I'm not harnessing her, Ben." I replied, "She's not a dog. She's a little girl. You'll feel different when you have kids."

"**_I think I'm good with just being the uncle._**" He replied, "**_We're heading back now. We'll meet you back at the room._**"

"Alright." I hung up and then headed back up stairs.

When I got inside I turned on my laptop. After it booted up, a file popped up. It was on Narvik, Norway. A message popped up with it: **_D'er lettast aa laera av annan manns skade_**.

I put it in to Google translate and it read: **_It is easiest to learn from another man's damage._** In other words, _Wise men learn by other men's mistakes, fools by their own._

"I guess we're going to Narvik then…"


	29. Chapter 29: High Spirits

**AN: This chapter is not as long as the last, but I like how it turned out.**

**This chapter is dedicated to Guin Parris.**

**Happy reading!**

_**"When hinges creak in door less chambers, and strange and frightening sounds echo through the halls. Whenever candle lights flicker, where the air is deathly still. That is the time when ghosts are present, practicing their terror with ghoulish delight. Welcome foolish mortals, to the Haunted Mansion! I am your host, your ghost host. Hmm hmm hmm hmm. Kindly step all the way in please and make room for everyone. There's no turning back now. Our tour begins here in this gallery where you see paintings of some of our guests as they appeared in their corruptible mortal state. Your condavorous pallor, betrays an aura of forborden. Almost as though you sense a disquieting metamorphosis Is this haunted room actually stretching? Or is it your imagination hmm? And considering this dismaying observation, this chamber has no windows and no doors. Hmm hmm hmm hmm. Which offers you this chilling challenge, to find a way out! A ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Of course, there's always my way. . .' -Ghost Host in the Haunted Mansion**_

**_'You best start believing in ghost stories, Miss Turner... you're in one!' - Pirates of the Caribbean Curse of the Black Pearl_**

**Chapter Twenty Nine: High Spirits**

**-Virginia 2013-**

**Bianca's POV**

"How'd they even get here to hide it?" Scotty asked.

"The Shenandoah flows into the Potomac, which goes into Atlantic. They probably used smaller boats and then did the rest on foot." I replied as we followed the map deeper down the Shenandoah Valley.

"Where are we looking for?" Watson asked.

"Well judging by the treasure map and the national park map, we should be heading towards Doyle River Falls." Reid answered. He was our navigator for this, only because he was the only one who could really follow two maps at the same time. "We're gonna wanna take a left here and then after a couple of miles we should see it."

"What have we got to look for once we find it?" John asked.

"Something behind the waterfall." Reid and I replied at the same time.

**-Norway 2013-**

**Riley's POV**

_'Okay, I'm starting to get why after a few days she didn't like it here.'_ I thought looking around the area. We got in a little after midnight and it was still so bright outside.

"How is it so bright?" Ben asked.

"It's the midnight sun. During the summer the sun never sets. It's caused by the tilt in the Earth´s axis. As the Earth orbits the Sun, the tilt makes the North Pole face towards the Sun in summer and away from it in winter. Hence the endless sunlight." I answered, "Let's just find our hotel and make a plan to get this done."

"Ian and the rest of them are meeting us tomorrow morning." Ben said, "So what's the plan?"

"You, Ian, and whoever else has diving experience goes and down and brings the clue up." I replied.

"Simple plan." Ben stated, "I like it. What are we going to do about Carissa?"

"She's gonna stay in the hotel room." I replied, shifting my hold on Carissa little, making sure not to wake her. If she was to wake up now, I'd never get her back to sleep. "I'm gonna set her up with food and everything and she's gonna stay in the room."

"Don't want her wandering around Norway?" Ben joked.

"Well she's already wandered around Venice and Athens; I think it'll be alright if she stays inside for Narvick."

**-Virginia 2013-**

**Bianca's POV**

After about a half an hour we found Doyle River Falls.

"This is it?" Barnes asked.

"Ben's right. There's nothing here." Watson agreed.

"Well, this is the entrance to the treasure according to the maps." Reid replied.

"Sometimes the entrance doesn't look like much." I commented and went behind the waterfall, glad I wore quick drying clothes and a bikini underneath. I looked at the rock behind the water. "Now there must be something here somewhere…" I felt the rock for a hidden lever or something. Then, then I found a hole between two of the rocks, big enough that no hand bigger than mine would fit through the hole. I sunk my hand into the hole. There was a tiny lever, I pulled it and then quickly moved my hand away. The rock wall slowly moved up rumbling the ground near it a little. "I found it!" I called back to them. They ran over. Barton, Barnes, and Watson turned on their flashlights, and we went inside.

"Now Bianca, you said this place is supposed to be haunted?" Barton asked as we journeyed deeper into the tunnel.

"Yeah, the pirate couple whose treasure we're looking for, they died here." I replied, keeping it simple.

**-Virginia 1725-**

**Eva's POV**

"Kaelen, I think we should hide it somewhere else." I said as we traveled deeper down, "This place…There's something wrong."

"Don't worry, we just have to hide it and then we leave." Kalen replied.

"Kaelen, we don't have much time before he catches up!" I exclaimed, "What are we going to do about the girls?"

"Everything's gonna be alright. Howe's still in the Atlantic. Nothing's gonna happen to us or the girls." Kaelen reassured.

We got to the bottom of the tunnel.

"Let's start working." Kalen said looking around the space.

After a couple of days the room was done. We looked around the space. It looked good. We had books, gold, jewelry, a throne, diadems, silver, emeralds, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, different types of pearls, statues, carvings, bronze, paintings, swords, fancy clothing, and random items we happened to collect while we were traveling and placing clues.

Slow clapping came out of nowhere, Kaelen and I turned around to see Jasper's younger brother, Ewan, "Very nice, too bad you won't live long enough to finish hiding it." He looked to me, This is for my brother."

It happened very fast. Ewan shot me, and then he and Kaelen shot each other. All three of our bodies to remain there forever, leaving our spirits to haunt the cave for the rest of eternity.

**-Virginia 2013-**

**Bianca's POV**

"I didn't sign up for ghosts, Bianca." Watson commented.

"I never signed up for banshees and spirits either." Scotty agreed.

"No one ever does." Barnes replied to them in a way to say 'Suck it up'.

A blood curdling scream filled the air. We looked to each other and remained silent quietly moving towards it. It was late at night and this area was never open. It was the first time anyone had ever been in here.

We watched the scene play out before us wide eyed.

"Eva, no!" the ghost, who most likely was Kaelen exclaimed as the ghost of Eva fell to the ground.

"Bianca, lass, she looks like you…" Scotty whispered in my ear, "We could use that…"

I nodded, not wanting to make a sound.

Kaelen's ghost took out his gun and shot the other ghost as that ghost shot him. All three then laid down dead, the lovers on one side, the gunman on the other, and then they all disappeared.

"Okay I think we can head in now…" I told them after a minute, trying to shake off what we just witnessed. I had never seen anything like that in my life.

"Are they gonna come back?" Barton asked.

"I don't think so…" I replied.

"Not till tomorrow." Barnes stated and went inside the treasure room.

We all looked at him, probably having the same thought crossing our minds, _'Now there's a guy who's seen some shit.'_

We followed Barnes inside and looked around the room amazed. Kaelen and Eva didn't hold anything back from making this room as astonishing as it could be.

"So what are we gonna do?" Scotty asked.

"Scotty have you ever been to Disneyland or Disneyworld?" I asked him.

"Yes mam." Scotty nodded, "Went with my wife and my family a few years ago to the one in Florida."

"Do you remember the Haunted Mansion attraction?" I asked.

"The one with the ghosts?" Scotty clarified, "Yeah. Scared my son half to death, thought there was a ghost comin' home with us. I liked the ride though, it was fun."

"Could you manufacture something like that?" I asked him.

"Yeah, but what are we going to do about them though?" Scotty countered.

"I don't know." I replied.

"Use them." Barnes stated, "You interrupt their routine, whoever's death you stop, they wake up. Bianca and Eva are almost identical. If you stop her death, she might help you. You would have to figure out how to stop Kaelen's as well to assure it."

"How do you wake Kaelen without waking the other guy?" Tess asked.

"You jump in front of Kaelen and take his bullet." I replied in realization, "Kaelen shot the other guy first and then the other guy shot him. If one of us is fast enough we should be able to stop him from being murdered again."

"They'd only be woken for a night." Barnes warned.

"Then we'll have to wake them for a couple of nights." Barton replied.

"Why didn't they cross over?" Scotty asked.

"Some of them have died accidently and don't realize they are dead so they keep being here. Others can't have their rest as an important task has to be done or there is something undone that should be completed or they cannot rest. Some spirits stay because their connection to other people is too strong." Reid explained, "There are a lot of reasons. My guess for them is that they died before their time and they had unfinished business."

"How are we going to use them?" Watson asked.

"Have them and Bianca talk to Ben, Ian, and Riley, and whoever they have with them. Scare them a bit. Place Bianca on the throne on the second level with one of the books and Eva in the front of the room talking to them, once she sees Mr. Howe, I'm sure she'll have a lot to say. Have Kaelen on the first level with the books. We hide and make sure everything goes alright." Mom stated.

"Barton, you are going to make yourself a nest and stay up high where you can observe everything. Scotty, you are going to find out how the haunted mansion makes their ghosts come to life and carry it out. Barnes, you seem to know more about ghosts than rest of us do, so you and John, Raleigh not Watson, get to wake them up and explain everything afterward. Watson, you and Reid get to pretend to be henchmen and meet with Howe, Ben, and Riley and whoever comes with them. Tess, you get to hang out with Barton up in the nest. Mom, you get to help Scotty." I instructed, "I get to hang out with Barnes and our two new friends."

"Sounds like a plan." Watson nodded and we all went off to set up for our separate things.


	30. Chapter 30: Wonderland

**AN: Hey, so here is chapter thirty and it's a pretty long chapter too. **

**Oh just a little advertisement, if any of you guys like Ouran High School Host Club, I just put up a story for it called So Close. **

**This chapter is dedicated to Musical Cake.**

**Happy reading!**

**_"There is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we're apart... I'll always be with you." - Winnie The Pooh_**

_**"Don't think and don't worry. When the times comes, you'll know what to do." - Helen Parr, The Incredibles**_

_**"You're never too old to be young," -**_**_ Snow White_**

**Chapter Thirty: Wonderland**

**-Norway 2013-**

**Riley's POV **

"I want to go!" Carissa argued, "I can help!"

"No, you're staying here." I replied, shooting the argument down, we'd been at it for the past five minutes.

"But I can help! I've helped with other clues, why can't I go with you this time?"

"Because this clue is more dangerous to find." I retorted frustrated. A very sad look spread across her face. "Look just stay in here and I'll be right back as soon as we're finished. Shippen's going to come and stay with you."

"No, I want to go with you." She argued.

"It's too dangerous."

"No. Mommy sent me off with someone else and now she's gone. And she's never coming back." She cried, "I don't want to lose you too. I-"

I picked her up and held her close, "Hey, shh…" I kissed her head and told her, "You can't lose me. I'm coming right back to get you. I won't leave you. And as for your mom, she's closer than you think. You may not get to see her for a while, but she's there, always." I shifted her to my other side, "Look at me."

She looked up, teary eyed and confused.

"I'm gonna teach you something my mom taught me." I told her, "Close your eyes and try to imagine me and your mom, and everyone else. Can you see us?"

She shook her head, "No."

"Look harder."

"I can see you guys now."

"What are we doing?" I asked her.

"Mom's watching a movie and telling Aunt Tessa to stop picking apart the movie because she doesn't like it. When really Aunt Tessa's just mad because Mommy's watching a Disney movie and enjoying more than Zach is, he's sleeping and not watching the movie."

"That sounds about right." I laughed, "What else is going on?"

"Uncle John is outside with Tristan, Henry, and Uncle Ben."

"What are they doing?"

"Playing some odd sport that makes no sense. It comes from when Uncle John's from. Henry's not really as into it as the others are. He'd rather be playing quittich if he could."

"Okay, that sounds about right." I replied, nodding, "What else is happening?"

"Grandpa and Grandma are arguing about the food and how it should be cooked, finally deciding that Mommy should do it because she can cook. Mommy's saying not to volunteer her and that we just order in, which you've already covered that because that what you were doing on your computer the whole time Mom was watching the movie."

"I sat next to her and started looking up places to eat?" I laughed lightly.

"Yeah, to save the day with the disaster in the kitchen." She replied brightly.

"I saved the day?" I asked her slightly confused.

"You always do." She smiled.

"We'll I've gotta save it a time or two more before we get to go home, okay?"

She nodded.

"So, can you stay here?"

She nodded.

"And if you start to get worried or miss us, you know what to do?"

She nodded.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes daddy."

I set her down, she went into her room and turned on the TV.

There was a knock at the door, I got it. Shippen had gotten here. I closed the door behind him.

"Any instructions?" He asked.

"She's not allowed to leave the suite. Anything above PG isn't allowed when Bianca and I aren't around. Don't let her tell you otherwise. Harry Potter is the exception to that rule, but she's not allowed to watch that before bedtime, I don't know if you'll run into that problem or not. It depends on how long it takes to find it. No Wizard of Oz though, she'll say she can handle it, but once that scene with the tornado hits, she's done. Sometimes she can get to the flying monkeys, but then you have to turn it off. Those terrify her too. I'd just avoid that movie all together."

"Afraid of the Wizard of Oz, really?" He asked surprised.

"She got that from her mother, I think." I replied.

"Any other tips?"

"Not really." I replied, "I'd keep her away from sugar, but that's not something she isn't allowed to have. I just recommend it for your wellbeing. Wouldn't want you to tire out before you do."

I left Shippen to take care of Carissa and went to go meet Ben down at the coast.

"So, what's your guy's game plan?" I asked Ben and Ian.

"We go down there, bring up whatever's down there and you open it." Ian answered.

"Good plan." I agreed.

They got ready and dived down to search for whatever clue was left behind. I sat down and waited for them to surface.

**Bianca's POV**

"Sound and visual test!" Scotty called out. We were running through tests for the set up all morning. It was kind of fun. Everyone got everything most of the way set up to the point I'd even believe I was a ghost.

"What do you want me to say?" I called back.

"I don't care! Sing something if you want, just get the image to work around the space that you're given." He replied.

"We good?" Reid asked.

"Good and ready, Reid." I replied, knowing what I wanted to do. Reid flipped the switch and an apparition of me appeared sitting on top the throne. How it was supposed to work was I would move about the space I was given and Reid would make it happen in the space I was supposed to be.

"I'm gonna sing a song when I do this for real. Might as well make a show out of this, right?" I smiled and made the apparition hop off the chair and walk over to the railing, "I've got the song picked out."

"Can you actually sing?" Watson called up from where he was.

"I wouldn't be suggesting it if I couldn't." I replied with a smile remaining on my face. I moved about the space, climbing up to have the apparition walk on the railing and face the front. "I've been thinking about clothing. What am I going to wear for this? Am I going to look nice or wear the clothes I died in?"

"Died in usually." Barnes answered.

"That sucks. My clothes are all bloodied and gross." I replied.

"Not to mention unavailable." John stated, "They're currently in evidence."

"Good thing I said usually." Barnes sighed, "You think we could a white dress for her to wear before they come?"

"Yeah, I think we can manage that." Tess answered, looking at Mom, "What kind of dress do you want?"

"Need an Alice in Wonderland or a modern fairytale theme to it. Like it belongs in a fairytale, not oh this was in a fairytale, and it has to be something I can move around in and looks flattering on me."

"Got it." Tess replied.

Mom and Tess left to go find a dress.

**Riley's POV**

Ben and Ian surfaced an hour later with a chest. They pulled it up to shore.

"Got a good lock on it." Ian commented.

"No key either." Ben added.

I pulled out one of the guns from my pack, and shot the lock, "No more lock." I replied dryly as it fell off. I put the safety back on, put the gun back in my pack, and looked my pack.

"What just happened?" Ian asked confused.

"A lot's changed since last time." I replied dryly as I opened the chest. When I saw what was in it I jumped.

"Apparently, not all that much." Ian retorted, seeing my reaction to the corpse.

**Bianca's POV**

A couple of hours later Tess and Mom came back with a strapless white and light blue lace dress. It zipped up in the back and it was stunning, very me too. It reached my knees and with it they had bought a powder blue cloak to match it. Not only that they had the most amazing shoes, Wizard of OZ style heels. Instead of them being ruby or silver, they were light blue.

"These look like Dorothy's ruby red slippers, but blue!" I exclaimed about the shoes. I always liked the ruby slippers from Wizard of Oz, hated the film, but loved the shoes.

"Told you she'd go for the shoes first." Mom laughed.

"And the dress and cloak?" Tess urged.

"Are perfect." I told her, "What do you think Barnes?"

"Put it on and then I'll tell you what I think." He replied.

I left to go put on my costume.

**Riley's POV**

"So what have we got?" Ben asked.

"By the looks of it, a map, a clue, and a message from the-"

"Other treasure hunters." Ben finished, "What does the message say?"

I opened up the regular piece of paper, and read the message, "Prepare to be boarded."

"Well, we know one thing for certain; it definitely wasn't a woman who wrote that." Ian commented.

_'You'd be surprised.'_ I thought, knowing full well Bianca would have thought up something like that. "Yeah, it'd be a very rare woman to think of something like that."

**Bianca's POV**

"I love it, but are you sure this isn't a little young?" I asked them.

"No." Everyone replied.

"Alright, let's take this whole thing from the beginning." Scotty directed, "Bianca, you go to your space. Everyone get in your places, we're going to do this whole thing from the beginning for real."

**AN2: Okay, here's the deal on the song, I was inspired by a song for this chapter. The thing about Bianca and the ghosts, is past waking the ghosts up they don't have a plan for them because it's something they have to explain and discuss with them. If you want to listen to the song I'm considering, it's called Wonderland by Natalia Kills.**


	31. Chapter 31: Smooth

**AN: Hey everyone hope you guys are well. Can you believe the summers almost over? Only a month left and if your in university, sometimes less than that. **

**This chapter is dedicated to Ella Fox, Guin Parris, and Musical Cake!**

**Happy Reading and Enjoy!**

_**"I vow no matter what challenges might carry us apart that we will always find a way back to each other." - The Vow**_

_**"That's what people do. They leap and hope to God they can fly. Because otherwise, we just drop like a rock, wondering the whole way down, 'Why in the hell did I jump?' But here I am Sarah, falling and there's only one person that makes me feel like I can fly. That's you." - Hitch**_

_**"It was a million tiny little things that, when you added them all up, they meant we were supposed to be together … and I knew it. I knew it the very first time I touched her. It was like coming home. .. only to no home I'd ever known … I was just taking her hand to help her out of a car and I knew. It was like … magic." - Sleepless in Seattle**_

_**I guarantee there'll be tough times. I guarantee that at some point, one or both of us is going to want to get out of this thing. But I also guarantee that if I don't ask you to be mine I'll regret it for the rest of my life because I know in my heart you're the only one for me. - Runaway Bride**_

**Chapter Thirty One: Smooth**

**Riley's POV **

As soon as Ben and I got into Dulles Airport, we met up with Patrick and I sent Carissa with him. She wasn't going to be a part of this. The final part of the hunt was always the messiest and she was definitely not ready to see or be a part of that.

Ben and I drove up to Shenandoah and stayed in a hotel by the park that night. Ian and the rest of his team were flying here tomorrow and after they got here, we would decide then what we would do.

My phone rang.

"I've gotta take this." I told Ben and went outside.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked Bianca.

**_"Where are you?"_** She asked.

"I'm at a Marriott near Shenandoah Valley."

**_"Oh great! You're close!"_** She exclaimed. By her tone, I could tell there was a smile on her face, **_"I want you to meet me at White Oak Canyon. If you come now, Scotty can let you into the park before he leaves."_**

"Done." I replied, "I'll be there as soon as I can."

**_"Awesome. I'll tell Scotty to wait for you."_** She hung up.

It wasn't like I was going to say no. I haven't seen her since the end of May. That's almost two months and she missed our anniversary in June.

"What's White Oak Canyon?" I asked myself confused. I googled it on my phone and looked at a couple of pictures. "I don't have a good feeling about this."

I told Ben I was going to go for a walk to clear my head and left to go meet Bianca.

I couldn't believe I was finally going to see her. She had a lot of explaining to do, mostly for own, for lack of a better word, premature death and for putting Carissa in danger.

"Oh great, you're here!" Scotty exclaimed when I arrived at the gate, "I can go home now!"

"Nice to see you too, Scotty." I greeted, "You're not going to show me where she is?"

"And save you the pleasure of finding her?" Scotty asked, "I'm happier just going home."

"She'd rip your head off, right?"

"Clean off." Scotty stated, "You two aren't supposed to see each other, so if none of us are around to see you two meet up, there isn't anyone other than you two to verify that you did. As far as I know, neither of you were here and I didn't see anything that would say something to the contrary."

"You've seen both of us here." I pointed out.

"But not together." Scotty replied, and turned to leave, "And Riley?"

"Yeah?"

"Whatever you're planning to say, just see her first." Scotty told me, "Just focus on tonight. You guys can focus on all of that crap after everything that goes down tomorrow night. Just go with the flow and focus everything you two both missed in the past few months, who knows when you two are going to get a night all to yourselves again anytime soon."

Scotty left to go home and I went to go find Bianca.

When I did find her, everything I wanted to say, everything that I had thought of, they were all forgotten the moment I saw her sitting by the waterfall. Her back was to me, staring at water.

**Bianca's POV**

I felt two strong arms wrap gently around me, "Wani ra yana ro aisha, t'hy'la."

"Riley!" I turned around to hug him and we both fell into the water.

"Very smooth, Bianca." Riley laughed.

"Shut up." I told him smiling lightly, before pulling him into a kiss. He responded very quickly, pulling me closer to him and deepening the kiss.

He pulled away after a few moments, "This is real, isn't it? You're really here. I'm not dreaming this, right?"

"I'm really here and this is definitely not a dream." I replied softly, "And unfortunately we cannot stay here for very long."

"Why?"

"I have something to show you." I answered, "But you have to promise you won't freak out when you see them."

"Them?" Riley asked, "What do you mean by them?"

"You'll see." I replied, it was better to show him than to tell him. I pulled myself out of the water. "We'll have more time to talk and continue what we were doing after."

"After what?" Riley asked confused as he pulled himself out of the water.

"I can't explain. You have to see it." I replied.

"See what?"

"The unexplainable." I replied, taking his hand and basically running towards the cave where we found Kaelen and Eva.

"Would you slow down?"

"No," I replied, "We'll miss it."

When we reached the cave, I checked my watch. We had five minutes before they appeared. I turned to face him, "Now you have to promise me, you will not freak out."

"I won't freak out." He replied confused, "What's going on?"

"You have to see it for yourself." I replied, before leading him in and stopping at the entrance.

"This is amazing!" Riley said when he saw the room, "Why would I freak out about this?" He told a step forward. I held him back before he successfully entered.

"The treasure isn't what I was talking about." I told him as a familiar scene started to appear before my eyes. Kaelen, Eva, and Ewan had arrived.

"Uh, Bianca-"

"I know." I replied quietly as blood curdling scream filled the air.

"Eva, no!" Kaelen exclaimed as Eva fell to the ground. Kaelen took out his gun and shot the Ewan as Ewan shot him. All three then laid down dead, the lovers on one side, Ewan on the other, and then they all disappeared.

"We can go in now."

"Are they coming back?"

"Not tonight." I replied, "Now I know you want to talk, so let's go sit down and talk."

"We don't have to tonight." He replied gently.

"Yeah, we do."


	32. Chapter 32: No Talking to the Dead

**AN: Hey everyone! Hope you guys are well. I just wanna ask this before you guys start reading, do you guys have any beloved movies that your scared of? You'll see why I ask this when you read the chapter. I personally, like Bianca, have a fear of Wizard of Oz, ET, and Pinocchio. Those movies terrified me as a child, parts of them still do. What about you guys are there any movies you just can't watch?**

**This chapter is dedicated to Musical Cake and Guin Parris. **

**Happy reading and enjoy everyone!**

_**"Being with you is the only way I could have a full and happy life. You're the girl of my dreams… and apparently, I'm the man of yours."– 50 First Dates **_

_**"I'm warning you, if you take one step closer, I'm never letting you go." – No Strings Attached**_

_**"The hardest part of love isn't loving someone, but having the courage to let them love you back." - The Wedding Date**_

_**"No, I mean I like you very much. Just as you are." - Bridget Jones's Diary**_

**_"You are the only person that can make my heart beat faster and slower at the same time." - The Hot Chick_**

**_"I vow to fiercely love you in all your forms, now and forever. I promise to never forget that this is a once in a lifetime love." - The Vow_**

**_"Love is passion, obsession, someone you can't live without. If you don't start with that, what are you going to end up with?" - Meet Joe Black_**

_**"You said you couldn't be with someone who didn't believe in you. Well I believed in you. I just didn't believe in me. I love you." - Pretty in Pink**_

_**"So it's not gonna be easy. It's gonna be really hard. We're gonna have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, you and me, every day." - The Notebook**_

**Chapter Thirty-Two: No Talking to the Dead**

We went up to what I basically deemed my area of the treasure room on the second level and sat down.

"Bianca, we don't have to discuss this tonight." Riley started.

"It's better if we do."

Riley looked down, he knew I was right, but didn't what to say it.

"Alright, so, you want me to explain from the beginning."

Riley sighed, "That would be helpful."

"I knew I was going to fake my death two weeks before it actually happened." I started, "Ian had broken out of prison. The plan was supposed to be like Reichenbach Falls. I was supposed to take Vega and we were both supposed to fall from the top. We had equipment all set up and everything, but it went wrong. When I told Vega, I knew he was the mole. Well, as you and I both know, I ended up with a bullet hole in my side and Vega ended up dead."

"Did you know you were going to live when you were in the hospital?"

"No." I answered, "No, I didn't."

"And Carissa, did you know Ian was going to take her?"

"I didn't know it for sure, but it was a possibility, which is why I gave her my necklace and assigned two informants to look after her."

"Unless there's a tracking device in that damn necklace, I don't see how her having the necklace matters."

"There isn't a tracking device in my, well it's Carissa's now-" Then a question hit me, "Why would you think there would be a tracking device in my necklace, Riley Spencer Poole? Is there something of mine that you put one in?"

"No-" He started, "Okay maybe there was one or two from before we actually started working together that I might have forgotten to remove."

"You promised me after we started dating that they'd all be removed." I retorted, "That was nine years ago, Riley!"

"Hey, you have no right to judge!" Riley exclaimed, "You not only faked your own death, you knew Ian broke out of prison before the news did and you let Carissa get caught up in it. She's five, Bianca!"

"You could have sent her home after you got her back. I'm sure there were people you could have called to come and get her, but you let her come with you and help look for treasure. So, if you think about it, that's kinda the pot calling the kettle black there."

"You did not seriously pull that card."

"Uh, yeah. I did." I replied, "You pulled the 'no judgment' card."

"Yeah, but there's a difference between the 'no judgment' card and the 'pot and kettle' card."

"No there isn't." I suppressed a laugh, "Are we really arguing about how we're arguing?"

"I think we are."

"Are you really upset about Carissa?" I asked seriously.

"At first, yeah, I was. I was very upset about Carissa. I'm still kind of upset about what happened to her, but you had people looking after the whole time-"

"Who were informing me about **_everything_** going on." I hit him lightly, "That's for Wizard of Oz. Do you know how much flack I got from Shippen for that damn movie?"

Riley laughed, "You're the one who's terrified of a children's movie."

"I am not terrified of Wizard of Oz." I corrected, "I'm afraid of the tornado and the flying demon monkeys. There is a difference."

"Yeah, still a children's movie."

"Says the guy who can't watch ET."

"Hey, hey neither can you, so pick a different movie to make that point."

"Pinocchio…." I even knew that one was wrong. I was trying to think of which movie it was.

"That one's all you, sweetheart."

"Beetlejuice!" I exclaimed remembering his absolute hatred for the movie. It absolutely freaked him out.

"That movie is just freaky."

"I love Beetlejuice!"

"Yeah, I know you do." He groaned, "Stop saying his name. Especially in here."

"Oh my god, Riles! He's not real." I laughed, "Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice." I smiled. Nothing happened, just as I knew it would. Freaked him out though. "We should see if Kaelen or Eva would appear if we did that."

"No." He replied dead serious.

"Oh what's it gonna hurt?" I asked. I saw the look on his face, and I nodded, "Alright, no talking to the dead tonight."

"Uh, yeah, no talking to the dead ever."

"You're going to have to when you come out night after tomorrow."

"What do you mean?" Riley asked. I started explaining the plan to him. After I was finished, he really had only one thing to say about it. "It's a good plan, but I haven't heard you sing in front of other people in years. You don't like small groups of people. What makes you think you can actually do this?"

"Thanks for the support, Ri!"

"No, really, what makes you think you can go up in front of a small group of people and perform and actually perform? There's a difference between singing for Carissa and actually performing a song in front of a small group of people. You freak out and when you get it wrong, you get upset. And it's not like noticeable things that you get upset over, it's like you missed a note or switched a word. You get overexcited. It's not a good experience for you."

"It's different this time."

"How?"

"Because when we actually do the plan for real, I won't actually be able to see anyone."

"Now that, that would definitely make a difference."


	33. Chapter 33: One Last Hope

**AN: Making good on my promise. I know it's been a long time since I updated, and this chapter is very long. It's 22 pages in word. Not so bad right? This isn't the end of this story. But it's coming to the end...I think. **

**The songs used in the chapter are Wonderland by Natalia Kills and Wake Me Up - Avicii (I actually used an acoustic cover of the song by Emily McGarvey).**

**This chapter is dedicated to Musical Cake, Guin Parris, TheQueenofErynLagasryn, and everyone who has been reading the stories and is still sticking with me after all of this time. **

**I hope you all like the chapter. **

**Enjoy and Happy reading!**

**Chapter Thirty-Three: One Last Hope**

Everything was set up. Riley had met with Ian and his crew this morning and then they met with Watson and Reid this afternoon. They would come tonight. All that was left was to wake Kaelen and Eva.

"Ready?" Barnes asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be." I replied. I was already in my dress, everyone was in there positions.

"Let's get ready to wake the dead then." Barnes looked at his watch, "5…4…3…2…Show time."

Right on cue, Kaelen, Eva, and Ewan appeared. I stepped in front of Eva and took the gun shot for her, preventing her murder. She looked at me quite bewildered. Barnes had the harder task since Kaelen and Ewan shot each other at the same time. Barnes took the easy way out and intercepted both of the shots, and then looked to Kaelen and said, "Shoot him." Kaelen did. Ewan disappeared angrily.

"Eva, love, you didn't tell me you had another sister…" Kaelen remarked confused as he saw the two of us standing next to one another.

"I don't, just the one." Eva replied, "However, she and I look more alike than my sister and I do."

"What year is it?" Kaelen asked.

"2013." I replied.

"2013? We came here in 1725…" Eva commented.

"We've been stuck here for almost four centuries…" Kaelen said looking around, "We look good."

"I told you we should have hid the treasure somewhere else." Eva told him.

"Wherever we would have hid it, Ewan still would have found us." Kaelen pointed out.

"And you have the next four centuries or so to figure it out; tonight, we need your help." Barnes interrupted them.

"Why would you need our help?" Eva asked us, and we started to explain the who situation.

**Riley's POV**

We met Watson and Reid in the lobby. Out of all of the agents she could have sent, I wouldn't have sent them. I'm not saying they weren't competent, they were. They're actually two of the smartest people in their group, but I would not say that John Watson and Matthew Reid were the most intimidating though. They were most likely the least intimidating of the group aside from Scotty. Barton and Barnes were the most intimidating.

"You're the one that's been leading us around?" Ellie scoffed, "You hafta be kidding."

"We're only here because our boss has decided to share the treasure." Watson replied, being very careful not to use the word 'she', keeping 'the boss' genderless.

"That was nice of him." Ian scoffed.

"What can we say? The boss is a bit of a philanthropist." Reid replied.

"Shall we?" Watson asked. Ian nodded.

"So where are we going?"Shippen asked as they headed into the park.

"A cave along the river." Reid replied simply.

"That numbers it down." Ellie replied sarcastically.

"Tell me, gentlemen, and lady, do you believe in ghosts?" Watson asked, a smirk gracing his face.

"No." Ellie scoffed.

"Not especially." Ian laughed.

Ben rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Interesting…" Watson replied, looking to Reid. Reid looked at him blankly and shrugged as we all headed into the cave.

"I believe in ghosts." Shippen commented, "Saw one when I was a boy in Edinburgh."

"And you, Mr. Poole?" Watson asked raising an eyebrow.

"How did you-" Ben started to ask.

"We know everything, Mr. Gates." Reid replied.

"I think if aliens exist, ghosts could be real too." I answered, "Anything's possible."

"You can't be serious." Ellie scoffed in disbelief, "The idea of ghosts is complete and utter childish nonsense there's no proof to it. It's all fiction to scare children."

"You'd best start believing in ghost stories, Mrs. Howe. You're in one." Watson replied darkly.

Suddenly, all of the lights in the cave went out.

**Bianca's POV**

_'Showtime.'_ I thought nodding to mom. She smirked and closed the curtain. It was time for me to be the ghost, I was thought to be.

I stood and brushed off my dress, "How do I look?"

"Like an angel, Mrs." Kaelen replied.

"Beautiful dress." Eva commented.

"You're on, Mrs. Flynn." Barnes told her, before going into his hiding place.

"On what?" Eva asked.

"He means that our evil plan has just been put into motion. Lights are out." I told her.

Eva smiled, "Oh!" She grabbed the lit old-fashioned lantern and disappeared.

**Riley's POV**

A beautiful woman in an eighteenth century gown with a lantern appeared a minute later. Her eyes widened. All of us looked at who she was looking at. She was looking at Ian.

"Jasper…"

"Ian." Ian corrected her.

"You are still a Howe." The woman spat, "Members of the Howe blood line are not allowed here. Proceed any further and you shall be cursed."

She disappeared.

"She was pretty, who was that?" Shippen asked, "I want to see her again. She's lively!"

"She's dead!" Ian retorted.

"She was Eva Flynn. A relative of the Gates family." I replied as the lights came on again, remembering the drawing of her I found.

"Why is that not a surprise?" Ellie commented as we pushed ahead, "She looks like the woman Vega shot…Bianca."

It was very obvious, or at least it was to me, that she knew exactly who Bianca was. She hadn't forgotten. It was just a dig into Ben and I.

"Has anyone ever told you how Ian got interested in treasure hunting?" I asked nicely. Ben looked at me as if I were crazy.

Ian glared, "Don't make me shoot you, Riley."

"With what gun, Ian?" I retorted, getting brave, "They padded you and your wife down and took all of your firearms when they came. I watched them. It was very amusing."

Ian's glare hardened.

"Okay, time to go." Watson commented. Ian shook his head and moved forward.

**Bianca's POV**

"How'd I do?" Eva asked as she reappeared.

"I liked it." I replied. We could see everything from the video feeds in our stations.

"A curse?" Kaelen asked with a laugh, "And to think I thought you were above voodoo. Even after four centuries of marriage, you still surprise me." He said before disappearing.

**Riley's POV**

"I thought I killed you."

Our heads all snapped in the direction of the voice. A tall, dark haired, blue eyed, and even I'll admit, handsome pirate. He was leaning against the wall with a smirk on his face. My guess was that this was Kaelen.

"Ah, you're just a descendant of some sort." Kaelen scoffed, "I wouldn't be in here if I were you. This place doesn't take kindly to Howe men."

"It didn't 'take kindly' to pirates either." Ian mocked.

"At least I didn't die murdering someone." Kaelen retorted.

"What do you call shooting Ewan Howe?" Ian asked incredulously.

"Avenging my wife." Kaelen answered.

"Didn't work out too well for you now, did it?" Ian retorted.

"How so?" Kaelen asked, "I get to spend eternity with the only woman I ever truly loved. My daughters were raised by men who were the most capable on my ship. They all grew up well. Not surprising, they were always sweet girls." Kaelen softly smiled to himself. He missed his daughters, it was all over his face. He never got to see them grow up. He looked at Ian darkly, "Ewan is in hell. I think I got the better end of the deal."

"You're a pirate. You'll be going to hell." Ellie retorted.

"If I choose to leave this world." Kaelen shrugged, "I might not. Everything I did as a pirate had a reason to it. I never killed anyone for pure blood lust. I had a moral code."

"A twisted one." Ellie scoffed.

"It is easy to see the faults of others but difficult to see one's own. A man winnows his neighbor's faults like chaff but conceals his own as a cunning gambler conceal his die" Kaelen quoted.

"Buddha" Ben and I commented.

"Yes, yes it was." Kaelen smiled, noticing Ben and I. "Brothers. Not in blood, but in bond… You're a Gates." He said pointing to Ben, "You have the same eyes, as my Eva and her sister. Not exactly the same color, but the emotions behind them. You figuratively wear your heart on your sleeve in a sense."

"How did you-"

"Pirates are like taverners, we notice everything." Kaelen replied, and then looked to me, "You're married to a Gates woman."

"How did-"

"When you've been married to one as long as I have, you know when another man's married to one." Kaelen shrugged, "Did she have a way of still surprising you even after you thought you knew everything about her?"

"Every single day." I smiled.

"Oh so it's inherit." He replied, "I wouldn't go that way if I were you." He said to Ian and Ellie who were starting to veer off to the right. "Lovely way to get your head stuck on a pike."

"Why should we believe you?" Ellie asked.

"You don't have to you can believe him." Kaelen rolled his eyes and called, "Larry!"

A headless ghost appeared, holding a head on a pike, in front of them.

"My name is not Larry! It is Avery Luca Taylor Hayden Finney, pirate!"

"You have five incredibly feminine names that are vexing to try to remember. I'll stick with Larry, since you have decided not to use my name as well."

"You woke me up for no reason, you damn poltergeist!" Avery or Larry replied, "You couldn't have kept him the way he was?!" He disappeared very pissed off.

"I'd take a left, if I were you." Kaelen gave us an impish smile before he disappeared. The lights went out again for the second time.

"You've got to be kidding." Ian groaned.

**Bianca's POV**

"Larry and the lights were a nice touch." I commented as Kaelen appeared in the room again.

"The lights are out too." Kaelen replied slightly confused.

"What?" I asked bewildered, "That wasn't part of the plan."

"I cut the power, Bianca." Scotty replied in the headset. "We really liked the song you were singing the other day in the run through. We thought you could lead them… We've got the piano track for you to sing it acoustically. All you have to do is sing the song..."

"Alright… Play the track…" I agreed, _'Here goes nothing…'_

**Riley's POV**

_"Feeling my way through the darkness_

_Guided by a beating heart_

_I can't tell where the journey will end_

_But I know where it starts"_

"Do you hear that?" I asked.

"I know that song." Ben commented.

_"They tell me I'm too young to understand_

_They say I'm caught up in a dream_

_Life will pass me by if I don't open up my eyes_

_Well that fine by me"_

"It's coming from the left." Shippen told us. We started to follow the voice.

_"So wake me up when it's all over_

_When I'm wiser and I'm older_

_All this time I was finding myself _

_And I didn't know I was lost"_

A wall slammed down behind us trapping us inside.

"Just keep moving forward…" Ben told us.

_"So wake me up when it's all over_

_When I'm wiser and I'm older_

_All this time I was finding myself_

_And I didn't know I was lost"_

"Is that who I think it is?" Ian asked.

"Yes." Ben and I replied.

"Who?" Ellie asked.

"Bianca." Ben, Ian, and I replied.

"It can't be." Ellie replied, "She's dead."

"So were the three other people we just met." I retorted.

"She didn't die here." She replied.

"She's an angel. She can go wherever the bloody hell she wants." Shippen shut her up as he stopped to listen for her voice as we met a fork in the path.

_"I tried carrying the weight of the world_

_But I only have two hands_

_Hope I get the chance to travel this world_

_ I don't have any plans"_

"Right." I told them. We headed down the path to the right.

_"Wish I could stay forever this young_

_Not afraid to close my eyes_

_Life's a game made for everyone _

_And love is a prize"_

We came across another long wall with two long path ways.

"Anyone else feel like lab rats?" Ellie asked.

_"So wake me up when it's all over. _

_When I'm wiser and I'm older_

_All this time I was finding myself_

_And I didn't know I was lost."_

"Left." Ben and Shippen stated. We headed left.

_"So wake me up when it's all over. _

_When I'm wiser and I'm older_

_All this time I was finding myself _

_And I didn't know I was lost…"_

**Bianca's POV**

"Fantastic love." Scotty said, "We pulled the acoustic track for Wonderland because we preferred when you sang it in the practice yesterday. Looks like they need a little more leading, they're right before the dummy room."

"Play the track, Scotty…" I replied quietly.

**Riley's POV**

"Without the voice we've got nothing." Ellie groaned. 'Wake Me Up' had ended. And we weren't even near the treasure room yet. We still had to get through the dummy.

_"I'm not Snow White _

_But I'm lost inside this forest_

_I'm not Red Riding Hood_

_But I think the wolves have got me_

_I don't want your stilettos _

_I'm not, not, Cinderella_

_I don't need a knight_

_So baby, take off all your armor"_

"That way." We all said at the same time going right.

_"You'll be the beast _

_And I'll be the beauty beauty_

_Who needs true love_

_And long as you love me truly_

_I want it all_

_But I want you more_

_Will you wake me up, boy _

_If I bite your poison apple."_

A couple of lights flickered in the distance. We had found the dummy room. We spirited towards it.

_"Don't believe in fairy tales_

_No, I don't believe in fairy tales_

_And I don't believe in fairytales_

_But I believe in you and me"_

"Front wall." Ben told us, "It's coming through there. But how?"

We started searching for something that would lift it.

_"Take me to Wonderland_

_Take me ta_

_Take me ta_

_Take me to Wonderland_

_Take me ta_

_Take me ta_

_Take me to Wonderland_

_Take me ta_

_Take me ta Wonderland_

_Wonderland_

_Wonderland"_

"Found it." Reid said pushing the stone in. The wall rose. We all came through to the treasure room.

"When I lay my head to go to sleep at night

My dreams can see to things that make you want to hide

Don't lock me in your tower

Show me your magic powers

I'm not a afraid of I little danger danger

I want the love, the money, and the perfect ending

You want the same as I I

So stop pretending"

I looked up find Bianca, well the projection of her, sitting on a railing in a pretty blue and white lace dress, sitting on the railing looking up, I don't know what probably one of the corners in the wall.

"Bi…" Ben said to himself when he noticed her sitting there.

"I wanna show you how good we could be together

I wanna love you through the night

We'll be a sweet disaster

Don't believe in fairy tales

No, I don't believe in fairytales

And I don't believe in fairytales

But I believe in you and me

Take me to Wonderland

Take me ta

Take me ta

Take me to Wonderland

Take me ta

Take me ta

Take me to Wonderland

Take me ta

Take me to Wonderland

Wonderland

Wonderland

Woah…

Oh…

Woah…

Cause I believe in you and me"

"I've never heard two songs that fit her better, at least from this century anyway." Ben commented, still in surprise of seeing her. I can't wait to see his face when he finds out she's actually alive. Bianca and I have a bet going. She thinks he'll be pissed, I think he'll be ecstatic.

"Fairytales

Don't believe in tales

And I don't believe in fairytales

But I believe in you and me

Take me to Wonderland

Take me ta

Take me ta

Take me to Wonderland

Take me ta

Take me ta

Take me ta Wonderland

Take me ta

Take me ta

Take me ta Wonderland

Wonderland

Wonderland…"

"I think I like the other song better!" Kaelen called to her appearing at a corner at another, "Both of them sound better with a faster rhythm though."

"Really I liked both of them the way were sung."

"Kaelen, we're you thing about something at this pace?" She snapped her fingers and the song started to play.

"That's it!" Kaelen exclaimed, "That's definitely the pace it should stay."

Bianca, or at least the hologram of her, stood on the railing, "You know the view from up here is incredi- Oh hello." Bianca finally noticed everyone in the room. I suppressed a laugh. She would be last one to notice she was in a room surrounded by people if she were focused on something else.

"Hello to you, Bianca." Ian was the first to greet her, "Looks like a lot's changed in the past decade."

"Nine years." Bianca corrected, "And yeah, I guess a lot's changed since you were carted off to prison. I **_was_** actually**_ living_** a happy **_life_** before you broke out of prison. I **_had_** a lot going for me. I **_was_** married. I **_had_** a family. **_I was alive._**"

"Yes, I heard you married Riley. You could have done better."

"Oh dear god, I hope you're not referring to yourself."

"You had your chance." Ian replied. Ellie looked at him shock and disbelief.

"Even if I had my 'chance' a million times over, I would always choose Riley over you. Riley will always be the better man than you will ever and could ever be."

"He's a coward." Ian scoffed.

_'And I am standing right here.'_ I thought slightly annoyed.

"You and I have very different meanings of the words coward and courage." Bianca retorted, "I would even go as far as to say you were the coward, Ian."

"I am not a coward!"  
"You're a prideful, vengeful, merciless, deceitful, malicious coward." Bianca retorted. Ian glared at her. "What are you going to do about it? You have no fire arms and I'm already dead. You can't kill me again."

"I can't kill him though." Ian said looking at me, and then looked back at her. "You know as well as I do, I don't need guns."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Ian." She warned him smirking.

"Oh why the bloody hell not?" He asked her frustrated.

"Because there's something you don't know about this whole damn situation." She told him.

I got out my gun, and so did Reid, and Watson, and Shippen. Barton and John came out of hiding, with a snipers and lasers pointed at him. Scotty and Barnes came out with their guns ready to go. Bianca came out of her hiding space with one of her guns in her hands.

"I'm alive and you're surrounded." She stated.

Every door in the treasure room opened to federal agents and cops. Sadusky and Phil were above him with smirk.

"Who looks stupid now, Ian?" Phil called over to him, laughing.

"If I were you, Ian, I'd play nice." Bianca told him, "I'm the one who decided your fate."

"Barnes, Watson. Book 'em" Sadusky told them before leaving. Barnes handcuffed Ian and Watson handcuffed Ellie, and then they led them out with an escort of armed police and federal agents.

Bianca put her gun back on safety and put it away and came down to where Ben and I were at.

"You're alive…" Ben said to her, "I saw your body. You were dead. Why didn't you tell me?" He looked to me confused, "Why aren't you surprised by all of this?"

"I knew." I stated, "She called me."

He started to piece it all together, "Every time you went out to talk on your phone, you were talking to Bianca…why you were so glued to your phone, or at least more than usual. You were waiting to get a call from-"

"Why didn't you call me? I would have been able to help."

"I needed Riley." She replied, "I know you would have been able to help. And I love you, but Riley was the person I needed to call for help this go around. I needed him in more ways than one, more than helping me with the treasure. There were some calls were I just wanted to hear his voice because I couldn't see him. The last time I got the opportunity to see him, it was our anniversary and he was putting flowers by my grave, wishing for me to be alive. I think we needed each other the most. I would expect the same from you if the same thing had happened between you and Abby."

"I'm glad you're okay." He replied, hugging her, "Great job on the treasure hunt by the way."

He left.

"So, neither of us really won the bet." I said breaking the ice a bit.

"I guess not." She replied, "Neither of us lost, in a sense, either."

"So can you come back home yet?" I asked her, "Zach and Carissa have really missed you."

"I can go home Monday night. I have a court hearing Monday afternoon to proclaim me legally alive, and then I can go home."

"What are we going to do until then?"

"We?"

I nodded, "Zach and Carissa are with your dad until I come back. And I'm not coming back this time without you. So where can we go? Better yet, where do you want to go?"

"A beach?" She suggested.

"Then that's where we'll spend the weekend until your hearing."

"What about clothes and other necessities?"

"We'll buy them when we get there, not that we'll be needing much." I smiled as we headed out of the treasure room, "By the way, what are you going to do about Ian?"

"Since they have such a love for pirates, he and Ellie are going to be marooned on tiny deserted island in the middle of the Pacific until I'm declared legally alive. And then they'll be thrown into solitary confinement in penitentiaries for the rest of their lives. Ellie's going to stay in the states. Ian's going overseas."

"So you're basically giving them a honeymoon on a deserted island?"

"When your marooned, you get a small ration of food, a container of water, and a pistol that only has one shot. It won't be much of a honeymoon to them. The pistols they're going to be given are practically useless. They only thing they'd be good for is shooting each other."

"What do you think will happen?"

"I don't know. It's hard to say." She replied, "If I were her, I'd shoot him, but I would shoot him even if I wasn't."

"Did you mean what you said?"

"Yes, I would shoot him." She replied, not getting the question.

"I meant what you said to Ben and Ian."

She smiled softly and put her hand in mine, "Every word, Ri, every word."

I kissed her gently, "Let's go find a beach."

"Tomorrow." She replied, "I've still got a room for the night and have a late check out for tomorrow. Let's get some sleep."

"Sleep sleep or the good kind of sleep where we're not actually sleeping?"

"Sleep. The other can wait till we get to the beach."

"Do you know how long it's been since-"

"I'm well aware, it's only outmatched by the amount of time it's been since either one of us had a decent amount of sleep."


	34. Chapter 34: Marooned

**AN: Hey! Chapter 34 has arrived! We are a little under 3000 words left to 50,000 words! This is probably going to be the longest story I've ever written. Hopefully, it's a good one. I like writing it and I think it flows pretty well. This is a pretty long chapter, around 8-10 pages in word.**

**This chapter is dedicated to Guin Parris and Musical Cake.**

**Happy Reading and Enjoy!**

**Chapter Thirty-Four: Marooned**

**Ian's POV**

"What the bloody hell is going on?" I asked severely pissed.

"You and the Mrs. are going for a bit of a trip for a few days, before you're sent off. Seems like a lot of people want your head overseas." The guard replied as two police officers cuffed me.

"Can I ask where we're going?" I asked snarkily, already knowing the answer was going to be no.

"You can ask, doesn't mean anyone will tell you." The guard retorted.

I rolled my eyes, _'Damn woman was better off dead.'_

The guards dragged me out of the cell and walked me out.

**Bianca's POV**

"What's with you?" I asked Riley amused, "You haven't stopped smiling since we left the-"

He pulled me into a kiss. It was deep and romantic.

Pulling away, I smiled, "What was that for?"

"Do I need a reason?"

"Nope." I replied, kissing him.

_'I missed this…'_

**Ben's POV**

I had the ring. I had it before Ian had broken out of prison. I knew eventually that I wanted to marry her, but it was what Bianca said about needing Riley. I needed Abigail the same way Bianca need Riley. Now just felt right to finally ask her.

We were leaving a museum exhibit on royal jewelry when I decided to ask, "Did you know that the practice of giving or exchanging engagement rings began in 1477?"

"Yes, the Roman Emperor, Maximilian I, gave Mary Burgandy a diamond ring as an engagement present." She nodding.

"The veil has a historical connection too. It dates back to ancient Rome–By the way, will you marry me?" I asked, catching her off guard.

"Yes!" She hugged me and kissed my cheek.

**Ian's POV**

"Where are we going?" Ellie asked after we were left in the prison at the bottom of the ship.

"I have no idea." I replied tiredly.

"You mean they didn't tell you either?" Ellie replied, "Is this legal?"

"Now you question legality?" I asked surprised, "Where was your sense of justice when you helped break me out of prison?"

"Lost behind my love for you." She replied, "Who decided where we're going?"

"My guess, since we're on a boat instead of two different planes, is Bianca decided where we're going."

"Okay, if you we're her where would you send us?"

"Well, knowing her, she'd tie it into something we did or at least I did."

"That limits it down." Ellie replied.

"It does because she would tie it in with the treasure…To pirates!" I exclaimed figuring out, "Damn…"

"What?"

"I don't know if I'm right, I hope I'm not, but if I were Bianca, I would either maroon us or send us to an island with cannibals."

"Cannibals?" Ellie gulped.

"Let's just hope she was in a good mood when she decided where we were going."

**Bianca's POV**

"So what was it like being Mr. Mom?"

"Worse than the song." Riley replied, "I cannot tell you how many times Carissa ran off while we were looking for clues."

"Her curiosity got the best of her…" I shook my head, "You found her though. She's safe and with my dad and Zach. Did I miss anything?"

"With Zach?" He asked, "No, not really. He's a bit bigger. He won't eat bananas at all. I think he gets that from you."

"Why? Cause I don't eat them?"

"Uh yeah."

"Maybe he just doesn't like the taste of them. It doesn't have to be inherited."

"It might be." He insisted, "Let's see…the only way he'll go to sleep is if you keep playing 'When You Wish upon a Star'. I swear I never want to hear that song again."

"You said that about the songs we used to sing to Carissa to get her to sleep."

"Those weren't as repetitive and she slept through a good part of the night."

"She woke up every two hours."

"Well, he wakes up every hour."

"Infants have shorter sleep cycles." I replied nonchalantly. I knew it wasn't anything to worry about. I looked after Tristan, Henry and Elizabeth. I had an idea of what to expect. Riley really didn't, so I got his concern. "Don't worry. He'll be fine. You wanna do something fun before we go to the beach?"

"I thought that was the whole reason we were going to the beach." He replied impishly.

"Not what I was inferring." I told him.

His face fell slightly, "What were you inferring?"

"You wanna go see Ian get his just deserts?"

"He's being shot?"

"Marooned." I replied, "So he might be shot. He and his wife each have pistols with a shot in them, who knows they might shoot each other."

"If we go they could shoot at us."

"They'll still be cuffed."

"But they'll have the key?"

"Yeah."

"You and I have very different definitions of fun."

"You knew that when you married me."

"I knew that when we started dating." He replied, "Let's go."

**Ian's POV**

"Alright, out you guys go. Time to get in the row boats." A police officer opened the door. Two police officers stood behind him.

"Row boats?" We asked him.

"The crew won't go all the way to the island."

"Why?" Ellie asked him.

"There's some type of problem with the natives." He shrugged, "Let's go."

"How is this humane?" I asked them.

"I could ask you both the same question about some of the things you've done, Mr. Howe."

"Not that he'd answer."

We looked to the side of the officers to see Bianca leaning against the wall with Riley, as always, by her side. We both scowled at them.

"Are we supposed to be scared by that?" Riley asked.

"I don't believe so." Bianca replied, and then looked to the police officers, "Thanks for sending the helicopter, boys."

"Thanks for taking our places in the row boats." One of the officers replied.

"Our pleasure." She replied, and then whispered something to Riley. She kissed his cheek, and then whispered something else. He kept looking at her like she was crazy. She squeezed his hand and he nodded.

"Ian, you're with me. Mrs. Howe, you're with Riley." Bianca told us.

Now their back and forth had made sense. The five of them led us to the row boats. Bianca and I got in one, Riley and Ellie got in the other. A federal agent with a couple of backpacks got in the boat with Riley and Ellie as well. They rowed off first, we followed them.

"Marooned on an island, imaginative." I commented sarcastically.

"Went with the rest of the treasure theme."

"I hate you."

"The person who saved your life?" She asked, "They were going to shoot you, ya know."

"That's a little much."

"Are you kidding? Rape, Murder, and Organized Crime. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. You're lucky to be alive. If it had been up to me last time, you would be ten feet under right now."

"Then why did you choose not to kill me this go around?"

"I felt bad for her." She looked to Ellie and Riley's boat. "The only crime she's ever committed was done for a motive that makes sense. She did it for love. I'm not going to kill you, especially not in front of her. You guys get to be stuck on this island and then you're going to be separated for the rest of your lives. I think that's punishment enough."

"You're cruel and ignorant."

"I could say the same about you." She retorted.

When we got to the beach, Bianca and the agent threw me onto the beach. Ellie was already sitting on the beach, holding a pistol.

Bianca threw a pistol by my head, "One pistol, one shot."

"So we can shoot ourselves before we starve?" I asked sarcastically.

"This is a well versed trade route, not that ships will ever actually come near the island. I guess you could try to flag one down or you could bite the perpetual bullet as it were."

"Or shoot each other." Riley replied, "Your choice."

"You've really have gotten a little bite to you." I mocked, "I've always known she was a feisty little thing, but you, what happened to you? You were a spineless coward."

"It's been nearly a decade. People change, Ian." Riley retorted.

"How are we supposed to get out of these cuffs?" Ellie asked.

"You both have been out of them since we threw you down on the beach." The agent scoffed. Ellie and I smirked to each other and grabbed the closest thing to us; for Ellie, it was a piece of driftwood, and for me, it was a branch. They started to walk away.

**Bianca's POV **

We heard them shuffle as we started to walk away.

"Finally. They were starting to get boring." I commented to Riley and Barnes.

"I was starting to wonder if he was still the same guy who used to freak me out years ago." Riley replied.

"Get ready, they're about to pounce." Barnes told us. We knew they would try to attack us. It was something we had planned for. We've been waiting for it to happen.

As they ran towards us, we spun on our heels. Barnes grabbed the driftwood out of Ellie's hands and tossed it to the sea. I grabbed the branch out of Ian's hands and tossed it onto more of the grassy part of the island.

"Nice try." I commented. We started to walk away again.

"I can tell you about a treasure! A treasure with more gold than you can ever imagine!" Ian called to us.

"You're making that up!" I called back. We hastened our pace as they ran after us calling mine and Riley's names. We jumped in the row boats and started to row back to the ship. Ellie shot at Riley and Barnes.

"You guys okay?" I asked Riley and Barnes.

"Yeah." They replied.

Ian shot at me.

"Missed!" I called to him.


End file.
